BANGKOK, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Election Commission (EC) has initially completed the counting of all votes cast in Sunday's general election, in which the pro-Thaksin People Power Party (PPP) gained 228 member of parliament (MP) seats in the 480-member House of Representatives, sources said Monday morning.

    The second place racer is the Democrat Party, which takes 166 seats, followed by the Chart Thai Party (Thai Nation Party) with 39 seats, and Puea Paendin Party (For the Motherland Party) with 26 seats.

    The tally, which began right after the 88,500 polling stations around Thailand closed at 3 p.m. (0800 GMT) Sunday, continued into midnight.

    The latest results echoed those released by the EC late Sunday night, with 92 percent of votes counted seven hours after the voting closed.

    The EC has said it will announce the complete unofficial results at around 10:30 a.m. Monday (0330 GMT).

    Streets in the normally chaotic and busy downtown Bangkok appeared much quieter on Monday, declared by the government as an extra holiday, as many Thais were expected to take a holiday trip out of Bangkok.

    Newspapers here on Monday quoted reports from Washington as saying that the United States government has praised Sunday's election for being conducted "free and fair".

    "The United States welcomes initial reports indicating that Thailand's parliamentary election today was conducted in a free and fair manner and congratulates the people of Thailand on taking this crucial step toward a return to elected government," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, according to the State Department website.

    "Domestic and international observers were present around the country. We call on all sides to respect the results, and for a fair and transparent process for the adjudication of any disputes or fraud claims," he said.

    The initial results put the PPP, seen as a nominee party for Thailand's coup-ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, a dozen seats short of a simple majority the party needs to secure at the House to form a single-party government.

    Earlier, PPP leader Samak Sundaravej has said the PPP would like to invite other parties to join in a coalition government.

    The idea was shrugged off by leader of the Democrat Party, Abhisit Vejjajiva, who said his party is ready to stay as an opposition party if the PPP gets to form a government, rather than join in the coalition.

    But if the PPP fails the mission, Abhisit said his party would be ready to take over the lead and form a coalition government.

    In Thailand's election system, the party or the coalition of parties winning a majority of seats at the House will be empowered to form a new government, with the winning party or parties electing a prime minister, who must be an elected MP, to lead the cabinet.

    Now with the most but not majority seats at the parliament, the PPP has to form a coalition with some smaller parties to secure a stable leadership both at the parliament and the government-to-be.

    Now observers have shifted their gaze a little from Samak and Abhisit towards the Chart Thai Party, the third-placed racer in the election, and the fourth Puea Paendin Party.

    Chart Thai Party leader Banharn Silapaarcha announced late Sunday night that his party would ally with the Puea Paendin Party.

    With an estimated 75 seats together, the two-party alliance now holds big bargain power as to with which of the top two parties it would join for a coalition, and how big the share it will get from the coalition whatever.

Samak Sundaravej, leader of People's Power Party(PPP) flashes a victory sign after a press conference at the party's headquarters Sunday, Dec. 23, 2007, in Bangkok, Thailand. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

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