Eligible voters throughout the nation were turning up at their home polling stations in large numbers to cast their votes on Sunday morning.
In the South, voters began to gather at designated polling stations in their constituencies before 8am to check the lists of voters before waiting in long lines to vote.
At polling station number 66 at Thessaban 2 (Malayu Bangkok) School in Muang district of Yala, Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, leader of the Prachachart Party, arrived at 9am to cast his ballot.
In nearby Narathiwat, Ekarat Leesen, the governor, turned up early at polling station number 25 in constituency 1 in Muang district and was the first to vote at the unit. He was confident that the turnout in Narathiwat would be over 80%.
Security was tight in all southernmost provinces. Military and police personnel have been deployed to ensure security both during and after the election, especially the routes for delivering ballot boxes to the provincial election for vote-counting.
In Nakhon Si Thammarat, governor Chamroen Tipyapongthada turned up early at a polling sttion at Kalayani Si Thammarat School to vote. He said the province has set the turnout target at over 80%, with less than 2% of invalid votes.
Siripat Patkul, the governor of Phangnga, was among a group of voters who turned up at 8am to vote at the Phangnga Kindergarten in Muang district.
He, too, expected a high turnout in the province.
In the Central Region, voters began to gather in front of polling stations before 8am in Ang Thong province where only one House seat is available. So the competition is fierce, with 26 candidates of 26 political parties in the race.
A similar atmosphere prevailed in Chai Nat where voters were seen standing in long lines at polling stations before the polling started.
In the Northeast, the atmosphere was as rousing as elsewhere in Khon Kaen, where 10 House seats are up for grabs.
Khon Kaen governor Somsak Jangtrakul and his deputy Santi Laoboonsangiam turned up to cast their votes at polling station number 36 in Muang district.
Apinn Chanupala, the Khon Kaen election office director, expected to turnout to be over 80%. Unofficial vote-counting results of all 10 constituencies in the province were expected to be known by 9pm, he said.
