Thailand’s ruling Bhumjaithai party tops election that marks a conservative comeback

BANGKOK (AP) — The Bhumjaithai Party of Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is on track to win the most seats in Thailand’s general election, according to unofficial results released by the state Election Commission after about 94% of polling stations had reported Monday.

It’s the first decisive victory of a conservative party in Thailand in years. Sunday’s election came against a backdrop of slow economic growth and heightened nationalist sentiment. Voter turnout stood at around 65%, significantly lower than in the 2023 election.

The commission’s running count, shown on its website, indicated that Bhumjaithai won about 193 seats in the 500-member House of Representatives.

The House comprises 400 lawmakers directly elected based on constituencies, while 100 others are chosen from “party list” nominees, who gain seats according to each party’s proportional share of the vote on a separate ballot indicating party preference.

A simple majority of 251 seats is needed for the body to elect a prime minister. The figures indicate Bhumjaithai will have to seek one or two partners to form a coalition government with Anutin returning as its head.

The progressive People’s Party, which had been tipped to win the most seats, was holding down second place with 118 seats. It swept all constituencies in Bangkok and a majority in the capital’s neighboring provinces. The party also took a lead in the party list totals, taking about 3.8 million more votes on party list ballots than Bhumjaithai.

Pheu Thai, the populist party representing the political machine of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, trailed behind with 74 seats. It’s considered a disappointing result for a political force that has often dominated Thai elections.

It’s widely believed that Pheu Thai will accept, if asked, to join a coalition government led by Bhumjaithai.

Anutin has been prime minister since last September, after serving in the Cabinet of his immediate predecessor, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who was forced out of office for an ethics violation regarding mishandling relations with Cambodia. Anutin dissolved Parliament in December to call a new election after he was threatened with a no-confidence vote.

Subsequent border clashes with Cambodia allowed Anutin to recast himself as a wartime leader after his popularity initially slipped because of floods and financial scandals. His campaign focused on national security and economic stimulus.

While the result diverged from what earlier polls suggested, Bhumjaithai’s victory didn’t come as a surprise, said Napon Jatusripitak, director of the Center for Politics and Geopolitics at Thailand Future, a Bangkok-based think tank.

Beyond the nationalist boost from the border clashes, Napon said Bhumjaithai capitalized on traditional patronage networks outside Bangkok and major urban areas. He said the party strategically positioned itself as a natural home for well-connected local politicians and worked with provincial allies to avoid vote splitting.

“The result may have resolved a recurring dilemma in Thai politics, whereby conservative interests have repeatedly intervened to curtail democratic politics after losing at the ballot box. Whether this configuration produces genuine stability, however, remains to be seen,” he added.

Sunday’s voting included a referendum asking voters whether Thailand should replace its 2017 military-drafted constitution.

The vote wasn’t on a proposed draft, but rather to decide whether to authorize Parliament to begin a formal drafting process, which would require many further steps before coming to fruition. About 60% voted in favor, delivering a clear mandate for starting work on a new draft.

Supporters of the People's Party gesture as they gather at party headquarter for the result of the general election in Bangkok, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

Supporters of the People's Party gesture as they gather at party headquarter for the result of the general election in Bangkok, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

Leader of People's Party and prime minister candidate Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, right, attend a press conference after the general election in Bangkok, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

Thailand's Prime Minister and leader of Bhumjaithai Party Anutin Charnvirakul, center, leave after a press conference at the party headquarters following the general election in Bangkok, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Lindsey Vonn knows the Olympic downhill course better than anyone.

She’s won a record 12 World Cup races on the Olympia delle Tofane track — split evenly between six downhills and six super-Gs — and has a total of 20 podium results there, stretching back to her very first podium on the entire circuit in 2004.

So how did the 41-year-old American standout lose control just 12.5 seconds into her run and crash so spectacularly at the Milan Cortina Winter Games on Sunday?

Here’s what happened and why:

The highlight of the downhill course is the Tofana schuss, a narrow chute between two walls of Dolomite rock where the skiers accelerate to 80 mph (130 kph).

But the real key to the Olympia delle Tofane track comes above the schuss, where there’s a key right turn that includes an uphill stretch. That’s where Vonn went down.

“It’s incredibly reverse banked,” said Kristian Ghedina, the Cortina native and former racer who grew up in a home just below the finish line. “That’s where your speed for the rest of the course gets determined and if you don’t take the right trajectory it makes a huge difference because you end up going uphill.”

Vonn was fighting that reverse bank and trending slightly uphill when she got rocked into the air by a bump, causing her to clip the fourth gate with her right side.

That’s when the real disaster started to unfold.

Vonn tried to twist and regain her balance in mid-air but landed awkwardly with her skis perpendicular to the fall line, ensuring a brutal fall. She tumbled over, got bounced into the air again and landed on her neck area and slid down a ways before coming to a stop in the middle of the course, away from the safety netting but clearly in serious trouble.

Hours later, Vonn underwent surgery for a broken left leg and was in stable condition.

“It’s super flat after it so the goal is to be as close to that gate as possible and she really nailed the turn but she was too close to it so she got hooked into it," Norwegian skier Kajsa Vickhoff Lie said of the gate. “But that’s how it is with the Olympics, you really want to be on the limit and she was a little bit over the limit.”

While it’s always bumpy in that section, this year the final bump is “more of a kicker,” Lie noted, which is why Vonn got popped up suddenly into the air.

“I watched the video, and probably like anybody else, saw that she went through that panel, that uphill double, and for sure kicked her in the air and there was a pretty significant fall after that,” head U.S. ski coach Paul Kristofic told The Associated Press.

Women's race director Peter Gerdol said the section where Vonn lost control was “not really more different than other years.”

“This is the Cortina downhill and this year we’re talking about the Olympics,” he told AP. “It’s awarding Olympic medals so has to be somehow challenging.”

Had attention been paid to controlling the size of that bump?

“Not severely,” Gerdol said. “Because actually today, all the athletes went through quite easily. Lindsey made a mistake and it happens. It can happen in any section of the course. It happened there but it could have been in another.”

When she came to a stop, Vonn's skis were facing in opposite directions, still attached to her bindings. She then moved her left arm toward her body and was lying there alone and virtually immobile until help arrived after some tense moments. She received care for long minutes before she was airlifted away by helicopter.

The mandatory safety air bag inflated under her racing suit during the crash, supplier Dainese confirmed to the AP. The air bag, which is triggered by a complicated algorithm when racers lose control, may have softened her landing.

It was evident that the air bag had opened, because Vonn’s chest appeared puffed out when she was lying on the snow.

Marco Pastore, who works on the safety system for Dainese, said the air bag deflates after about 20 seconds, so that likely happened while Vonn was lying on the snow after her crash. Eventually, Dainese will try to retrieve a sort of “black box” sensor that could reveal data on the fall.

“She was wearing it when they took her away in the helicopter,” Pastore said. “So we haven’t gotten the data yet.”

AP Sports Writer Steve Douglas contributed to this report.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

United States' Lindsey Vonn is airlifted away after a crash during an alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)