Divided Thailand votes in crucial election

Opposition Pheu Thai party leader Yingluck Shinawatra, right, waits for the ballots in a general election at a polling station in Bangkok, Thailand Sunday, July 3, 2011. (AP / Apichart Weerawong)

July 3, 2011
Daniel Rook
AFP

Thailand voted on Sunday in a hard fought election seen as pivotal to the future of the deeply divided kingdom, after years of political deadlock and often bloody street protests.

The poll is the first major electoral test for the government since mass opposition rallies in Bangkok last year sparked the country’s deadliest civil violence in decades and battered the vital tourism industry.

Polls opened at 8am on Sunday (1100 AEST) and close at 3pm (1800 AEST).

More than 170,000 police are being deployed to protect polling stations for the tense vote, which could herald a comeback for fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra and his political allies.

Ousted in a 2006 military coup and now living in self-imposed exile, the ex-tycoon has tapped his youngest sister to run in his place.

Yingluck Shinawatra, a telegenic businesswoman tipped by many to become Thailand’s first ever female prime minister, is a 44-year-old political novice described by Thaksin as his “clone”.

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