BANGKOK—Thailand’s main opposition party took an early lead with half the votes counted from Sunday’s general election, touted as a pivotal chance for change nine years after incumbent Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha first came to power in a 2014 coup.
The Pheu Thai Party was leading with 23 percent of the 400 seats contested in the direct race for the House of Representatives, and a 21 percent share of the seats allocated in a separate nationwide ballot for the 100 members elected by proportional representation.
The returns so far were a good sign for democratization, said Saowanee T. Alexander, a professor at Ubon Ratchathani University in northeastern Thailand….