BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's first general election since a 2014 army coup has been touted by the ruling military junta as a return to democratic rule, but two weeks after the vote, results are still unclear and allegations of manipulation are mounting.
"After the election ... the majority of the people feels a sense of hopelessness and distrust for the election process," said Pheu Thai's secretary-general, Phumtham Wechayachai.
Still, days after the March 24 vote, the "democratic front" claimed through its own calculations that it would gain at least 255 House seats - not be enough to form a government but potentially allowing it to block the military-backed party from having free rein.
Last week, however, the election commission indicated the complex formula to calculate allocation of the 150 "party list" seats will round up decimals to give seats to 11 small parties although their popular votes did not meet a previously described threshhold required to earn even one seat.
"Thaksin continues to be a threat to the position of power of the establishment," Pavin Chachavalpongpun, associate professor at Kyoto University's Center for Southeast Asian Studies, told Reuters.