Thailand Holds Its First General Election Since 2014 Coup
- 51 million registered to pick members of 500-seat lower house
- Monarch asks citizens to back ‘good people’ for government
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About 51 million people are heading to the polls in Thailand’s general election on Sunday after nearly five years under a military government that’s trying to keep its leader as prime minister.
The junta chief, Prayuth Chan-Ocha, is backed by the royalist and military elite who have long dueled for power with exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin or his allies, who draw support from the rural poor, have won every election since 2001, only to be unseated by coups or the courts.