Eleven Thai political parties which won one seat each in Thailand's March 24 elections said on Monday that they would vote for incumbent Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, giving him enough votes to stay in power ahead of the election.

Prayut and his Palang Pracharat won 115 seats in the previous election, they still need 126 overall to get to the 376 majorities required in the combined House-Senate vote to approve the prime minister. The 11 votes of the small parties are likely to ensure Prayut is the next prime minister.

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The parties said during a press conference held in Bangkok that they supported pro-Prayut party Palang Pracharath in leading a coalition government, and they would join the coalition government.

"We do this because we want to dismiss uncertainty for Thailand," one party leader said, adding that they support Palang Pracharath party and Prayut "unconditionally."

The Palang Pracharath party leader Uttama Savanayana expressed his gratitude to the parties, saying his party was confident to lead a coalition government to run the country in the near future.

Ten of the 11-party group won less than 71,000 votes, or the threshold to win a seat in the House of Representatives, with the only exception being the Thai Nation Power Party which won about 73,197 votes.

The 10 parties and another pro-government party, the People Reform Party, entered the lower house after the Election Commission (EC) announced the list of 149 proportional party-list Members of Parliament (MPs) on May 8, which was opposed by the opposition Pheu Thai Party and Future Forward Party.

The People Reform Party showed its support for Prayut since the beginning of its founding and the parties showing up Monday said the People Reform Party may join their group later.

The 500 elected members of the House of Representatives of Thailand's National Assembly, together with 250 senators selected by the National Council for Peace and Order led by Prayut, would soon vote for a new prime minister.

With the 250 senators supposed to vote for Prayut, adding the 115 seats of the Palang Pracharath Party and 11 seats of these parties at the lower house, the pro-Prayut side is likely to have more than half of all 750 seats of the National Assembly at hand, enabling it to form a coalition government.

(With inputs from Xinhua News Agency)

(Cover: Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha speaks during a news conference on the Fourth Year Performance Report at Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, February 1, 2019. /VCG Photo)