With 93 percent of votes counted late Sunday, the Palang Pracharat party was first with nearly 7.6 million votes, according to the Election Commission. ADVERTISEMENTThe country likely faces several weeks of bargaining among political parties before a potentially unstable coalition government is formed in May or June. A new party, Future Forward, which was anti-junta and popular with young voters, scooped up 5.2 million votes. But voters deserted the Democrat Party, the country’s oldest political party, in its Bangkok and southern strongholds. After the coup, political party gatherings were banned and pro-democracy activists and other dissenters were regularly arrested, interrogated and imprisoned.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer March 25, 2019 02:15 UTC