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More than 50 million people were eligible to vote in Sunday's poll
Two rival camps fighting for the first elections in Thailand since the coup of 2014 military state both said they were trying to form a coalition government.
The first results give the Palang Pracha Rath People's Party (PPRP) a larger share of the popular vote.
At the same time, the main opposition party, Pheu Thai, currently holds the largest number of seats in parliament.
But there are more and more complaints about irregularities in Sunday's voting and a vote count marked by confusion.
The Electoral Commission (EC) also faces strong criticism for its decision to postpone the publication of the full results without providing any explanation.
- Guide to Thai Elections after the coup d'etat
- Vote in hybrid democracy in Thailand
Thailand's complex electoral system allocates some seats in Parliament based on the number of votes received.
Critics say that the changes to the electoral law by the military in 2017 are aimed primarily at keeping the pro-military forces in power.
What are the results so far?
On Monday, the EC announced that the Pheu Thai party, linked to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, had won 137 seats in the 500-member lower house of parliament.
The PPRP, which supports the current leader of Thailand, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, was in second place with 97 seats.
Several other parties got between 30 and 39 seats each.
But the winners of 150 seats were still unclear, said the EC.
At the same time, the commission had previously stated that with over 90% of the votes counted, the PPRP had garnered 7.6 million votes. That's half a million more than Pheu Thai.
In the confusion surrounding the count of votes, the EC had to clarify the preliminary results at a press conference Monday.
But instead, the EC has further delayed the announcement of preliminary figures. He also said that there will be no official results until May 9th.
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General Prayuth Chan-ocha voted in Bangkok on Sunday
More than 50 million people were eligible to vote in a very late election, the first since General Prayuth Chan-Ocha led the coup that drove Thaksin's sister Yingluck Shinawatra away. is five years old.
But the reported turnout was surprisingly low, at only 64%. Many questioned this figure as well as the differences in the number of votes.
Sending to reporters, Charungvith Phumma, Secretary General of the EC, accused "human error", claiming that the people who had collected the number of votes were only ordinary people.
The EC then stated that the media misstated the data they were transmitting to them and that its servers had suffered unspecified hacking attacks.
A question of maneuver and momentum
Analysis by Nick Beake of the BBC in Bangkok
What is your definition of an election winner? Answers on a voting card, please.
Is it the party with the most votes in the whole country or the party with the most seats in parliament?
In Thailand, where power can be seized by armed means, it is not so much a constitutional problem as a technical problem, but a question of maneuver and momentum.
After repeatedly pledging – and then delaying – a national vote, the military junta finally granted the vote only when it managed to manipulate the electoral system in its favor.
Many have predicted a victory for General Prayuth as hollow and illegitimate, obtained thanks to the support of a new senate handpicked.
But the leader of the putsch can now indicate how the militant party, Palang Pracha Rath, has apparently overturned the majority of votes cast as a clear democratic mandate.
The opposition Pheu Thai does not see it that way. He believes that his own achievements – winning most of the parliamentary seats – should be rewarded fairly by being allowed to form a coalition of anti-military parties.
How does the Thai electoral system work?
The army has introduced a new constitution in 2017 which, according to its opponents, is designed to keep the pro-military forces in power.
The electorate of Thailand only votes for the lower house of parliament, which has 500 seats. The members of the upper house, which has 250 seats, are appointed by the army.
But it is the combined votes of the two chambers that will choose the future prime minister.
The vote was viewed primarily as a competition between pro-military parties and Thaksin's allies.
He was ousted by a coup in 2006 and lives in voluntary exile to avoid a conviction for abuse of power. But he still has an important audience, mostly among rural voters and less affluent.
At the time of the 2014 coup, the military said it wanted to restore order and stability and put an end to the street protests that erupted repeatedly over the years.
But the junta has been accused of adopting an authoritarian approach to power, of strictly controlling the media and arbitrarily using laws such as lèse-majeste – which prohibits criticism of the monarchy – to reduce silence the opponents.
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