BANGKOK — Long-delayed results of Thailand's first election since a 2014 military coup released on Wednesday produced no clear winner but gave a pro-army party a clear advantage in its bid to install the current junta leader as an elected prime minister.

The opposition threatened legal action against Wednesday's results, saying that a new seat allocation formula robbed the "democratic front" alliance of a majority in the 500-seat House of Representatives.

The results are likely to set up a period of coalition building, since neither the pro-military bloc of parties nor a "democratic front" opposition alliance so far has enough votes to elect a prime minister under rules written by the junta.

Any government that emerges is likely to be weak,

Still, Wednesday's results made it more likely that the party of coup leader Prayuth Chan-ocha will stay in power because it needs fewer allies among small and medium-sized parties to get to the 376 votes needed to elect the prime minister in the combined House and Senate vote.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's pro-army Palang Pracharat party was looking for coalition partners on Thursday from a wide field of potential allies as it seeks to keep military junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha, who led a 2014 coup, in office as prime minister.

The party is expected to easily form the next government, since it needs only a few more votes in the elected House of Representatives to choose the prime minister under complicated new electoral rules written by the military regime.

Palang Pracharat's most obvious potential allies are the pro-establishment Democrat Party and the Bhumjaithai party, which campaigned on marijuana legalisation among other issues.

The Democrats won 52 seats and Bhumjaithai 51, meaning that either could push Palang Pracharat, which won 115 seats, well over the magic number of 126 votes needed in the House to approve the prime minister under the new system.