Voters fill polling stations to cast ballots

People queue to cast their vote in the general election at a polling station in Bangkok on Sunday. (Reuters photo)
People queue to cast their vote in the general election at a polling station in Bangkok on Sunday. (Reuters photo)

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.

People were seen queuing 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.

In the 2011 election, voter turnout was 75%. That compared with 74.5% in 2007, following a previous military coup, 72% in 2005 and 69.9% in 2001. 

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.

Vocabulary

  • anticipated: creating a feeling of excitement about something enjoyable that is going to happen soon - รอคอยอย่างคาดหวัง
  • cast their ballots: to vote, i.e., to put a marked ballot (บัตรเลือกตั้ง) in a ballot box - ลงคะแนน, หย่อนบัตรเลือกตั้ง, ออกเสียงเลือกตั้ง
  • coup: the seizure of power in a country by a group of people, usually members of the armed forces - รัฐประหาร
  • invalidate: to make something no longer legally effective -
  • optimism: a tendency to be hopeful and to expect that good things will probably happen - การมองในแง่ดี,ลัทธิความเบิกบานใจ
  • polling station: the place where people vote in an election - หน่วยเลือกตั้ง
  • queuing up: standing in line waiting for something - ต่อแถว
  • turnout: the number or percentage of eligible voters who vote in an election - จำนวนผู้ออกมาลงคะแนน
  • unofficial: not formally approved by anyone in authority - ไม่เป็นทางการ

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT
MORE IN SECTION