Thailand counts votes in key election with opposition favored to win

By GRANT PECK
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — Officials in Thailand are counting votes in a general election that’s touted as a pivotal chance for change nine years after incumbent Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha first came to power in a 2014 coup. He is now running against the daughter of the politician who is the military’s top nemesis. The opposition Pheu Thai Party, headed by Paetongtarn Shinawatra, is widely predicted to win at least a healthy plurality of the seats in the 500-member lower House in Sunday’s election. But who heads the next government will be decided in July in a joint session of the House and the 250-seat Senate, a conservative body whose members were appointed by the military government following the 2014 coup.