<span style="color: #222222;">In Thailand, counting is underway at over 90,000 polling stations after the voting came to an end in country's first general election since 2014 military coup. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Election Commission said, with over 90 per cent of overall votes counted, the pro-military party Palang Pracharat is leading with 7.3 million votes. Close behind with 6.6 million votes is the main opposition Pheu Thai Party. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The commission estimated that 80 per cent of voters had turned out at schoolyards, temples and government offices across the nation, their enthusiasm fired by years of denied democracy. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Moments before polls opened this morning, King Maha Vajiralongkorn asked the voters, in a televised address, to support 'good' leaders to prevent 'chaos'.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the Army Chief who led the coup, is hoping to extend his hold on power after engineering a new political system that aims to stifle the influence of big political parties not aligned with the military. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">About 51 million people were eligible to vote this time, some seven million of them being first-timers.</span><br />'' <br />'' <br />''<span style="color: #222222;">The military government in 2014 had promised to hold elections in 2015, which were later postponed many times.</span><br />