Thailand has 40.8 million voters eligible to cast ballots on Sunday, in the first elections since prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a bloodless coup in September last year. -- PHOTO: AFP

'We've never had this many people vote early,' Election Commissioner Praphan Naigowit told reporters.

'The high turnout shows that the Thai people want the election to be held,' he added.

Thailand has 40.8 million voters eligible to cast ballots on Sunday, in the first elections since prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a bloodless coup in September last year.

Analysts immediately questioned whether the 2.95 million people who cast their ballots on Saturday and Sunday had been influenced by rampant vote buying or other forms of coercion.

Narong Boonsuayphan, an analyst at Walailak University in southern Thailand, said the high turnout for absentee balloting could indicate the success of vote-buying efforts by political parties, or even coercion by state officials.

'Normally political parties use money to mobilise voters, while the state tries to get local officials to pressure people to vote so that the turnout looks good,' Mr Narong said.

'Everyone is trying to take any advantage they can,' he added.

Thailand has a long history of vote buying, although penalties were recently toughened in a bid to discourage the practise.

Noppadon Pattama, a top official with the pro-Thaksin People Power Party, said he welcomed the high turnout but worried about possible tampering with so ballots already cast.

'The Election Commission must make it clear that the ballot-keeping is being done transparently and that no one can tamper with them,' he added.

PPP and the Democrat Party, Thailand's oldest political outfit, are the frontrunners in the election but neither party is expected to win a clear majority. -- AFP