STORY: Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul's Bhumjaithai Party won a clear victory in Sunday's general election.
The win raises the prospect that a more stable coalition may now succeed in bringing an end to a period of political instability that has long plagued Southeast Asia's second-largest economy.
"Bhumjaithai's victory today is the victory of all Thais," Anutin said at a press briefing on Sunday, adding, "We have to do the utmost to serve the Thai people with our full ability."
With nearly 95% of polling stations reporting, preliminary results released by the election commission showed the Bhumjaithai Party winning about 192 seats, compared to 117 for the progressive People's Party, and 74 for the once-dominant Pheu Thai party.
A handful of other parties won a combined 117 spots in the 500-seat parliament, according to a Reuters calculation of election commission data.
Even as results were trickling in earlier on Sunday, the People's Party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut conceded that his party did not look likely to win.
He said the party would neither join a Bhumjaithai-led government nor form a competing coalition.
Anutin set the stage for the snap election in mid-December during a border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia, a move that political analysts said appeared to be timed by the conservative leader to cash in on surging nationalism.
It is a gamble that paid off for a prime minister who dissolved parliament less than 100 days after taking over from the ouster of Pheu Thai Party premier Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
When Anutin dissolved parliament in December, he cited dysfunction and infighting between rival parties as making it impossible to lead a minority government.
Critical to Anutin's success were his embrace of nationalism and Bhumjaithai's strategy of winning over politicians from rival parties in rural areas, analysts said.
Thai voters were also asked to decide if a new constitution should replace a 2017 military-backed charter that critics say concentrated power in undemocratic institutions, including a powerful senate that is chosen through an indirect selection process with limited public participation.
The election commission's early count showed voters backing the referendum by a margin of nearly two to one.
Thailand has had 20 constitutions since the end of its absolute monarchy in 1932, with most of the changes coming in the wake of military coups.
The new government and lawmakers can start the amendment process in parliament with two more referendums required to adopt a new constitution.
