Election Commission (EC) chief Apichart Sukhagganond declared Sunday night that as of 10 p.m. (1500 GMT), or seven hours after the polls closed, some 92 percent of votes have been counted, with PPP leading the race by winning 228 seats in the 480-member House of Representatives.

The complete counting results, unofficial still, is expected to come out after midnight, said Apichart.

The results put the PPP a dozen seats short of a simple majority the party needs to secure at the House to form a single-party government.

The results also saw PPP's major rival the Democrat Party get 166 seats, while the Chart Thai (Thai Nation) Party 39 seats, and Puea Paendin (For the Motherland) Party 26 seats.

Earlier, PPP leader Samak Sundaravej has declared victory at a press conference at the PPP headquarters and said he was ready to become Thailand's next prime minister, when initials results showed the PPP will get about 230 seats.

The 75-year-old seasoned politician said the PPP would like to invite other parties to join it in forming 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, the 43-year-old, Oxford-educated politician said his party would be ready to take over the lead and form a coalition government.

"We will wait and see if it (the PPP) succeeds in forming a government," Abhisit told supporters in an assuring smile.

The initial results echoed those shown by two exit polls released right after the polling closed at 3 p.m. (0800 GMT) Sunday. Both the Suan Dusit poll and the ABAC poll have indicated the PPP is winning the election, by 256 and 202 seats, respectively.

Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, who was appointed to head the military-installed interim government after a coup ousted former government led by Thaksin Shinawatra in September last year, said all sides should accept the results of the election, whatever it might be, as "it is the people's choice".

The voter turnout in Sunday's election is expected to be heavy, judging from the busy scene at various polling stations around the country.

About 45 million eligible voters in Thailand are expected to participate in the election, which kicked off at 8 a.m. (0100 GMT) Sunday to elect 480 members of the House of Representatives.

A record high number of over 2.9 million voters have cast their ballots in the advance and absentee voting during Dec. 15 and Dec.16. The advance ballots were tallied along with those cast on Sunday.

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.

However, roadblocks lie ahead for the PPP to achieve its ambition.

For one, no other parties have voiced their willingness to join a PPP-led coalition, while there are chances that some other parties, such as the Chart Thai (Thai Nation) Party, the third-placed racer in the election, would join the Democrat to form an anti-PPP coalition to boycott the PPP.

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

But it was not certain yet as to whether the two-party group would join the PPP or the Democrat.

Observers have expressed concern that a victory by the PPP, which brings back the "old power clique", as opponents called Thaksin and his allies, to the center of Thailand's political arena, would trigger a new round of confrontation in the country, which is still deeply divided between the pro-Thaksin and anti-Thaksin camps after two years' political chaos.

There were also concerns that the military coup leaders, who took the trouble and risk to depose Thaksin last year only to see Thaksin's allies or "puppets" re-seize the power, would try everything possible to topple a PPP-led new government.

An Akha hill-tribe woman casts her vote at a polling station in a remote Thai village bordering Myanmar in Mae Aye district, north of Bangkok Dec. 23, 2007.