In Pictures: Thailand votes

The election pitted the governing Democrat party against the Pheu Thai party led by Yingluck Shinawatra, sister of former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra [EPA]

Voter turnout was high in a tightly fought contest that Pheu Thai was heavily tipped to win [Reuters]

In a scene repeated in towns across the country on Sunday, voters checked a list of candidates at a polling station inside a Bangkok Buddhist temple [EPA]

There were long lines of voters outside many polling stations, such as this one in Bangkok [Reuters]

Abhisit Vejjajiva, the incumbent prime minister, cast his vote with his wife Pimpen (second from right) and daughter Prang (at right) at a polling station in Bangkok [Reuters]

Yingluck Shinawatra, Pheu Thai(***)s candidate for prime minister, cast her vote in another Bangkok neighbourhood [Reuters]

Elsewhere in the Thai capital, soldiers waited in line to cast their votes at a polling station, amid fears of another military involvement following elections [Reuters]

More than 47 million Thais were eligible to vote, including this disabled woman who cast her ballotat a polling station in Nonthaburi province, on the outskirts of Bangkok [Reuters]

A "Red Shirt", or a Thaksin supporter, cast his vote at a rural polling station on the outskirts of Udon Thani, a northeastern province [Reuters]

Another Red Shirt voter walks past a photo of the Thai king after casting his ballot. Thakin, who the Red Shirt support, has been accused of undermining the authority of much-revered monarchy [Reuters]

Thai soldiers were on guard outside polling stations amid fears of a possible repeat of last year(***)s deadly opposition rallies, which left at least 91 killed [AFP]

A Thai official holds up a ballot paper as she counts votes at a polling station in Bangkok. Three exit polls gave the Red Shirt-backed Pheu Thai between 290 and 313 of the 500 seats in parliament after voting ended [AFP]

Red-shirted Yingluck supporters celebrate as they hear the results of the first exit polls suggesting a landslide victory for the opposition party at the Pheu Thai headquarters in Bangkok [AFP]

A supporter of the ruling Democrat party frowns at exit poll results which predicted a major victory for the opposing Pheu Thai. [Reuters]

Thaksin talks on the phone during a meeting with Thai journalists at a location near his home in Dubai. The former prime minister and brother of Yingluck called the Pheu Thai leader, to congratulate her on positive exit poll results [Reuters]