Thais go to polls in first post-coup election

BANGKOK (AP) — Nearly five years after a coup, Thailand voted yesterday in a long-delayed election that sets a militarybacked party against the populist political force the generals overthrew.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the short-tempered army chief who led the 2014 coup, is hoping to extend his hold on power after engineering a new political system that aims to stifle the influence of big political parties not aligned with the military.

About 51 million Thais are eligible to vote. Leaders of political parties opposed to military rule have urged a high turnout as the only way to derail Prayuth’s plans.

The junta leader was among the first to vote in the Thai capital Bangkok, arriving in a Mercedes, after polling booths opened at 8 a.m.

Speaking to reporters after casting his ballot, Prayuth said, “I hope everyone helps each other by going to vote today as it’s everyone’s right.”

The election is the latest chapter in a nearly two-decade struggle between conservative forces, including the military and the political machine of Thaksin Shinawatra, a tycoon who upended traditionbound Thailand’s politics with a populist political revolution.

Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 military coup and now lives in exile abroad to avoid a prison term, but parties allied with him have won every election since 2001.