Hundreds of Thai voters stood in long lines Sunday for early voting, a week before the country's first parliamentary elections since a 2014 military coup.
Over 2.3 million Thai voters are expected to take part in the March 24 election, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.
The nation's former prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, was ousted in a military coup in May 2014, three years after being elected Thailand's first female prime minister, the 12th military coup in the southeastern Asian country since 1932. Yingluck's opponents, including many in the middle classes and in Bangkok, claimed that she was a puppet for her brother Thaksin Shinawatra, who was himself ousted by a 2006 coup.
“I finally have a chance to cast my vote as I've waited for so long,” 48-year-old voter Paka Kaengkhiew said waiting outside Bangkok's Phra Khanong district office on Sunday, the SCMP reported. Hundreds of others congregated outside schools, parking lots and temples to cast an early ballot.
“I don't think this election will take Thailand back to a liberal democracy, because the constitution allows the military to continue to hold power,” Titipol Phakdeewanich, a political scientist at the University of Ubon Ratchathani in Thailand, told Al Jazeera.
“It is a referendum on democracy and whether this country wants to move forward with democracy or not,” he added.
Prayut Chan-o-cha, the…
