Thailand General Election: Thousands Flock to Polling Stations
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Bubbling with excitement and enthusiasm, thousands made a beeline for the polling stations in Thailand before dawn to exercise their right to vote in the country’s first election since a military coup nearly five years ago.
Thais were flocking to more than 93,200 polling stations in 77 provinces in the country before they opened at 8am (local time) hoping to make their voice heard.
More than 51 million voters are expected to vote to elect 500 candidates to the House of Representatives, where 350 of them will be elected directly through constituency elections while 150 will be elected through party-list representation, Bernama news reported.
Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-o-cha joined thousands of Thais in placing his ballots in the ballot boxes. He did so at Soi Pradipat 5, Phaya Thai District here at 8.30am (local time).
Prayuth, known by his nickname “Uncle Tu” and the sole prime minister candidate for the Palang Pracharat Party, said: “I am excited for the people (to cast ballots).
“I hope everyone will come out and vote today. It is your right.
“I am glad to see the people are more enthusiastic about voting this time,” he told media after casting his ballots.
Meanwhile, King Maha Vajiralongkorn in a royal message released on Friday night, urged the people to support “good people to govern and prevent bad people from grabbing power and creating trouble”.
His Majesty said he hoped all citizens and government officials, including civil servants, the military and police will ensure national security and people’s happiness.
The Election Commission (EC) is expecting a high voter turnout in the country’s long-awaited election.
There are 11,181 constituency candidates and 2,917 party-list candidates from 82 political parties contesting in this election.
All polling station will close at 5 pm today and the counting process will begin.
Unofficial results are expected to be known as early as 7pm (local time).
The newly-formed and pro-junta, Palang Pracharat Party is contesting 350 constituency seats and 120 party-list seats while Democrat Party (350 constituency and 150 party-list); Pheu Thai (250 constituency and 97 party-list) and Future Forward party (350 constituency and 124 party-list).
Last Sunday, 86.98 per cent of the 2.6 million early voters fulfilled their obligation ahead of today polls.
