In Pictures: Thais pick a prime minister
Thailand elects the country’s first female prime minister in an election which divided the country.
Millions of Thais cast their ballots on Sunday, voting Yingluck Shinawatra into power in a landslide victory against the Democrat incumbent, Abhisit Vejjajiva. Yingluck, the sister of Thaksin Shinawatra, the self-exiled former prime minister, led her party to an extraordinary victory, five tumultuous years after her fugitive billionaire brother was toppled in an army coup. She is set to become the country’s first female prime minister.
1) An election official sorts through election supplies on July 2, one day before Thailand’s general election [Adrees Latif/Reuters]
2) A “red shirt” supporter casts his vote at a rural polling station in the outskirts of Udon Thani, northeast Thailand, on July 3. In Thailand’s rural “red shirt” heartlands, villagers set out for polling stations early on Sunday, hoping to change the country’s government and avoid further bloodshed after six years of sporadic unrest [Adrees Latif/Reuters]
3) A Thai Muslim woman (2nd R) stands in a queue with soldiers before voting in the country’s general election at a polling station in Thailand’s restive southern province of Narathiwat [Madaree Tohlala/AFP]
4) Somporn Samaithong, who is disabled, writes his name on a ballot using his foot at a polling station in Nonthaburi province, in the outskirts of Bangkok [Reuters]
5) A man casts his vote at the Sawadee school in Bangkok [Nicolas Asfouri/AFP]
6) People cast their votes at a polling station in Bangkok [Nicolas Asfouri/AFP]
7) A Thai woman leaves a booth after filling out her ballot papers at a polling station in Bangkok’s Klong Toei slum area [Christophe Archambault/AFP]
8) Voters in Bangkok wait in line before casting their vote [Athit Perawongmetha/GALLO GETTY]
9) Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva casts his ballot in Bangkok [Paula Bronstein/Getty]
10) Yingluck Shinawatra, opposition Puea Thai party candidate and sister of fugitive Thai ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, shows her ID card during voting at a polling station in Bangkok [Athit Perawongmetha/Getty]
11) An election official sits behind a clock showing the remaining time to vote at a polling station in Klong Thoey [Damir Sagolj/Reuters]
12) A woman carries her baby before polling stations are closed in Klong Thoey [Damir Sagolj/Reuters]
13) Abhisit gives a news conference before conceding defeat late into election night at party headquarters in Bangkok [Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters]
14) Supporters of Yingluck celebrate as they hear the results of the first exit polls suggesting a landslide victory for the opposition party at their headquarters in Bangkok [Nicolas Asfouri/AFP]
15) Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin, now in exile in Dubai, smiles after hearing that his sister may have won a landslide victory [Jumana El Heloueh/Reuters]
16) Yingluck Shinawatra comes out to celebrate becoming Thailand’s first female prime minister with her supporters at the Pue Thai party headquarters in Bangkok [Paula Bronstein/Getty]