Defiant Thais vote as protesters block hundreds of polling stations

Protesters form blockades to prevent voters from entering polling stations, block the delivery of ballots and other election materials, preventing voting stations from opening.

Bangkok residents fight with police and officials protesting against not being able to cast their ballot because of blocked on Sunday. Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

BANGKOK // Protesters trying to derail Thailand’s national elections on Sunday forced the closure of hundreds of polling stations in a highly contentious vote that has become the latest flashpoint in the country’s deepening political crisis.

Around the country, the vast majority of voting stations were open and polling proceeded relatively peacefully. Polling stations closed for the day with no reports of violent clashes, easing fears of bloodshed a day after gun battles in Bangkok left seven people wounded.

The national focus was riveted on the capital where 488 of the city’s 6,600 polling stations were shut and several skirmishes broke out between protesters intent on disrupting the vote and frustrated would-be voters. The election commission said the closure of polls affected more than 6 million registered voters.

In some cases, protesters formed blockades to prevent voters from entering polling stations. Elsewhere, protesters blocked the delivery of ballots and other election materials, preventing voting stations from opening. The election commission said that hundreds of polling stations in southern Thailand, an opposition stronghold, faced similar problems.

Angry voters at one Bangkok district stood outside of closed voting stations waving their identification cards and shouting “Election! Election!”

“We have the right to vote. You don’t have the right to take that away from us,” said Sasikarn Wannachokechai, a 51-year-old Bangkok resident who said she had never missed a chance to vote.

The outcome of the vote will almost certainly be inconclusive. Because protesters blocked candidate registration in some districts, parliament will not have enough members to convene. That means the beleaguered prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, will be unable to form a government or even pass a budget, and Thailand will be stuck in political limbo for months as by-elections are run in constituencies that were unable to vote.

Official results were not expected for weeks, with final counting delayed until all districts have voted. Advance voting that was scheduled for last Sunday but thwarted in many districts has now been rescheduled for late February.

The conflict pits demonstrators who say they want to suspend the country’s fragile democracy to institute anti-corruption reforms against Ms Yingluck’s supporters, who know the election will not solve the nation’s crisis but insist the right to vote should not be taken away.

The protesters, a minority that cannot win power at the polls, are demanding the government be replaced by an unelected council that would rewrite political and electoral laws to combat deep-seated problems of corruption and money politics. Ms Yingluck has refused to step down, arguing she is open to reform and that such a council would be unconstitutional.

“This is not a fair election,” said Ampai Pittajit, 65, a retired civil servant helping to block ballot boxes in the Bangkok district of Ratchathewi. “I’m doing this because I want reforms before an election. I understand those who are saying this is violating their rights. But what about our rights to be heard?”

Fears of violence were high after a gun battle erupted on Saturday at a busy Bangkok intersection between government supporters and protesters trying to block delivery of ballots.

The exchange of fire was the latest flare-up in a months-long campaign by protesters to overthrow Ms Yingluck’s government, which they accuse of corruption. The violence crystallised the power struggle that has devolved into a battle of wills between the government and protesters – and those caught in between who insist on their right to vote.

Ms Yingluck cast her vote under heavy police security at a polling station in north-eastern Bangkok, cheered on by supporters.

“Today is an important day,” she said. “I would like to invite Thai people to come out and vote to uphold democracy.”

Voting was not as easy in other parts of Bangkok.

At one of the more volatile districts north of the capital, voters in Din Daeng scuffled with protesters and hurled bottles at each other under heavy police security. A protester fire a gunshot after angry voters tried to push their way past a blockade. There were no injuries reported.

Dozens of voters demanding their right to vote broke into the Din Daeng district office, which was unable to distribute ballots to the neighbourhood’s voting stations.

“We want an election. We are Thais,” said Bangkok resident Narong Meephol, 63, waving his identification card. “We are here to exercise our rights.”

Elsewhere, one of Thailand’s more colourful politicians, Chuwit Kamolvisit, an independent candidate, got into a brawl with a group of protesters.

“They tried to attack me while I was trying to go vote,” said Mr Chuwit, a tycoon who made a fortune operating massage parlours before turning to politics as an anti-corruption campaigner.

At least 10 people have been killed and nearly 600 wounded since protests began three months ago.

A power vacuum may entice the military to step in and declare a coup as it did in 2006, when Ms Yingluck’s elder brother, the former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, was deposed. Thaksin lives in exile but has remained a central – and highly polarising – figure in Thailand’s political strife ever since. The rural majority in the north adore him for his populist policies, such as virtually free health care, while Bangkok’s elite and many in the south consider him and his family a corrupting influence on the country. Protesters say Ms Yingluck is a puppet of her billionaire brother.

Another possibility is what is being called a “judicial coup”. Analysts say the courts and the country’s independent oversight agencies all tilt heavily against the Shinawatras’ political machine, and Ms Yingluck’s opponents are already studying legal justifications to nullify Sunday’s vote.

* Associated Press