The governing party of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi secured a two-thirds supermajority in a key parliamentary election Sunday.

The victory of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, led by former generals, was widely expected after the vote excluded major opposition parties and sharply restricted dissent.

Vote counting was underway in Thailand's early general election on Sunday, seen as a three-way race among competing visions of progressive, populist and old-fashioned patronage politics.

Thailand’s ruling conservative party clinched a surprisingly solid election win Sunday, marking the first victory this century for a party aligned with the country’s royalist establishment and a clear defeat for an emerging progressive movement.