BANGKOK – Thais turned out in droves at the ballot box on Sunday, after weeks of intense campaigning that has largely pitted conservative military-backed factions against a party that has won every single election in the last two decades.

Voting, which took place from 8am to 5pm Bangkok time (9am to 6pm Singapore time), was largely peaceful and uneventful. Preliminary results are expected to be known by 11pm the same day.

Caretaker Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, 69, a former army chief who has helmed Thailand since staging the 2014 military coup, is fighting to return as premier as a nominee of the United Thai Nation (UTN) party.

He is up against the Pheu Thai Party, which headed the government ousted by his 2014 coup. The party’s campaign is fronted by its prime minister nominees Srettha Thavisin, a 60-year-old former property mogul, and Paetongtarn Shinawatra, a 36-year-old business executive who is the daughter of self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Pheu Thai has a third nominee, Mr Chaikasem Nitisiri, a 74-year-old former attorney-general.

Mr Srettha cast his ballot in Bangkok shortly after polls opened at 8am, while Mr Prayut did so about an hour later.

“Today is a very important day for Thais. May all Thais come out to vote,” Mr Srettha told reporters. Mr Prayut had a similar message.

There are about 52 million eligible voters in this election, and Thailand’s election commission has said it expects 80 per cent of them to cast their ballots. In the 2019 election, 74.69 per cent of the electorate cast their votes.

Ms Sariya Kanrayanamit, a voter in Bangkok, was upbeat about the changes that will come from this election.

“I think a lot of people will come out to vote this time round, because we want to give Thailand a new future,” the 50-year-old accountant told The Straits Times after she had cast her ballot at a school in the capital’s Watthana district. “I’m excited about the leader who’s going to emerge from this.”

Sunday’s polls were held under new rules where voters will cast two ballots – one for their choice of constituency candidate and one for the political party they wish to support. This system favours parties with deep grassroots support like Pheu Thai.

Although Pheu Thai’s two previous iterations were dissolved over electoral fraud, it has wielded a commanding lead in opinion polls among a populace struggling with household debt and the slower-than-expected recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pheu Thai has pitched its experience in economic rescues, dating back to the days when the government under its predecessor Thai Rak Thai party steered the kingdom to recovery after the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998.

To install a prime minister, however, requires a party to win more than a simple majority in the 500-seat Lower House. Under a system brought into effect by the junta that governed before 2019, an appointed 250-seat Senate gets to vote alongside 500 elected representatives on who becomes premier.

Analysts expect the Senate to continue to back a conservative, royalist candidate like Mr Prayut.

Pheu Thai has declared it will not tie up with coup-makers to form a government. This rules out a much rumoured alliance with the Palang Pracharath Party, the leader of the ruling coalition now helmed by caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan. Mr Prawit, also a former army chief, was part of the junta which ran Thailand from 2014 to 2019.

Sunday’s polls were the first since mass youth protests broke out in Thailand in 2020. While initially triggered by the dissolution of the progressive Future Forward Party, the demonstrations grew into a larger movement demanding monarchy reform and a downsizing of military influence, among other changes.

While the street protests have fizzled out, some of their key demands have been taken on by the Move Forward Party (MFP), which houses Future Forward’s key politicians. MFP, led by 42-year-old Pita Limjaroenrat, has pledged to amend the law against royal defamation, end military conscription and open up Thailand’s monopoly-dominated economy.

Its large following among young voters has sparked a pushback from conservatives. The UTN has dialled up calls to protect the monarchy, with Mr Prayut warning on Friday against attempts to “overturn” the nation.