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Voters throng polling stations to cast ballots

Voters throng polling stations to cast ballots

BANGKOK: Voters across the country are lining up at polling stations to cast ballots in the first general election since the military coup in May 2014.

politics
By Bangkok Post

Sunday 24 March 2019 10:44 AM


A woman casts her vote earliy today as the polling stations opened nationwide. Photo: AFP

A woman casts her vote earliy today as the polling stations opened nationwide. Photo: AFP

People were seen queing up at stations before they opened at 8am for voting that will close at 5pm. The Election Commission has said that it expects to release the first unofficial results by 8pm.

The EC expects voter turnout of at least 80% for the long-anticipated poll, which it hopes will be the first successfully completed vote since July 2011 as the election held in 2014 before the coup was invalidated.

Poll officials base their optimism on advance voting last Sunday when almost 87% of those who had registered cast their ballots. About 51 million eligible voters, 7 million of them first timers, will determine the future of the country.

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