Unprecedented turnout of 2.9 million absentee and advance votes - EC

"Absentee and advance voters turned out in unprecedented numbers totalling about 2.9 million votes cast," he said.

Bangkok ranked first both for absentee and advance ballotings. It saw 823,331 absentee votes, accounting for 91 per cent of 903,899 registered voters. For advance voting, 199,357 voters cast their ballots.

"The balloting process was satisfactory," Prapun said, noting that the EC managed to make the ontime delivery of extra ballots to some polling stations that encourtered shortages.

Ballot boxes for absentee and advance votings would be dispatched under tight security for counting on December 23 and political parties would be welcomed to designate their representatives to assist in safeguarding the boxes, he said.

In regard to complaints about the list of eligible voters, he said many were unaware that they must reach the age of 18 in January, the cutoff date in drawing up the list.

The EC uncovered three cases of unintentional destruction of ballots in Phichit, Samut Sakhon and Bangkok's Lat Prao district.

In Buri Ram, there was a case of violating the ban on taking picture within the polling station. About 24 cases of violating the ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages during the balloting were reported.

Deputy Prime Minister Sonthi Boonyaraglin said he was satisfied with the high turnout, attributing it to the success of the awareness campaign against vote buying.

Sonthi vowed to intensify the campaign to deter money politics and encourage the balloting on December 23.

He also refused to comment whether he would enter politics following the general election.

The Nation