BANGKOK, Feb 25 (Reuters) – Thailand’s election commission on Wednesday certified nearly 400 parliamentary seats won in this month’s general election, moving a step closer to the formation of a new government.
* 396 constituency seats in the 500-member lower house havebeen certified, the commission said. There are 104 seats yet tobe confirmed, of which 100 are party-list. * A new parliament must convene within 15 days of thecertification of at least 475 seats, 95% of the total, afterwhich the house will elect a prime minister to form agovernment. * A commission source told Reuters that party-list seatswere expected to be certified next week. * Preliminary results on election night showed PrimeMinister Anutin Charnvirakul’s Bhumjaithai Party winning mostseats, followed by People’s Party and the Pheu Thai party. * Bhumjaithai has said it would be joined by third-placePheu Thai in a coalition government alongside several smallerparties, an alliance that would hold an estimated 286 seats. * There have been some complaints over alleged electoralirregularities that could lead to legal cases against the pollbody.
(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Martin Petty)
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