Thailand election: Confusion over party-list seat allocation sparks controversy
- Thailand is waiting for the election commission to unveil the allocation of party-list seats after its March 24 election
- Concerns are rising over the use of a new formula to determine how many seats contesting parties can obtain
But the commission is now finding the strategy has backfired, as frustrations mount over suspicions it may be using the seven-week window to manipulate yet-to-be-released “party-list” results in favour of the junta by tweaking a formula that determines how many seats contesting parties can obtain.
The former general’s Palang Pracharat Party, and the anti-junta Pheu Thai party linked to former prime minister Thakin Shinawatra, both say they won the March 24 vote. Unofficial results of the 350 parliamentary seats, released days after the polls, showed Palang Pracharat and Pheu Thai winning 97 and 137 seats, respectively.
The commission – which has said it cannot provide a projection of how the 150 party-list seats will be allocated until May 9 – is computing the seats under a controversial new formula that poll observers say is slanted against the Pheu Thai-led “Democratic Front” coalition.
In Thailand’s party-list system, seats are given a “value” set by the commission to determine how many seats parties are entitled to.
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The system is designed to ensure that contesting parties which win sizeable number of votes, even if defeated, are represented in parliament. On the flip side, it also limits the number of party-list seats offered to large parties that win a majority in the constituency ward race.