Exit polls showed the pro-Thaksin People Power Party (PPP) is leading the race in the first post- coup general election in Thailand as the voting closed at 3 p.m. (0800GMT) Sunday.

An exit poll by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, one of the two leading survey institutions titled by the Election Commission to conduct the exit polls for Sunday's election, has shown the PPP got 256 seats in the 480-member House of Representatives in its initial results as of 3 p.m., the official closing time for Sunday 's voting.

The PPP's major rival in the race, the Democrat Party, followed with 162 seats, the exit poll showed.

(Xinhua News Agency December 23, 2007)