Protesters vented their fury over the sham election 'stolen by the Thai military' following Move Forward Party leader poll winner Pita Limjaroenrat's failed bid to be elected Thai prime minister.

Pro-democracy group The United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration protested at the Bangkok Art & Culture Centre in Bangkok to voice their outrage over the parliament vote results.

Harvard University graduate Pita on Thursday needed at least 376 votes out of 500 MPs and 250 senators to become the next prime minister.

He received just 324 votes - from his own party and coalition partners controlled by former Man City owner Thaksin Shinawatra. There were 182 votes against him and 199 abstentions.

The protesters urged the military-controlled senators to 'honour the will of the people and uphold democracy' by selecting Pita as prime minister.

They slammed the MPs and senators who abstained, calling them 'spineless'.

Parliament President Wan Muhamad Noor Matha said the next vote for prime minister is scheduled on July 19 and 20 - with Pita unlikely to make the breakthrough needed due to stubborn resistance against his plans to drag some of Thailand's benighted social practices into the modern age.

Meanwhile, the Move Forward Party has submitted a draft registration seeking to abolish Section 272 of the constitution, which aims to remove the voting rights of senators in the selection of the prime minister.

The progressive party won the most seats in a national poll on May 15.

However, a junta-appointed cabal of 250 'senators' handpicked from the country's benighted institutions cast the deciding votes on which party can govern - rendering any elections a sham.

The ultra-conservative senators - branded 'dinosaurs' by critics - have pledged their loyalty to protecting the monarchy and vowed to prevent the Move Forward party from entering government due to its stance on modernising the state and watering down the Lese Majeste law, which they see as a threat to national security.