Скачать или смотреть WRAP Polls open, early voting in parliamentary election, ADDS candidates voting, PM bite

(23 Dec 2007) SHOTLIST
1. Leader of the Democrat party, Abhisit Vejjajiva, entering polling station with his wife
2. Election official checking Abhisit's his name on the register
3. Close-up of official
4. Abhisit marking his ballot paper behind screen
5. Cameraman
6. Wide shot as Abhisit putting ballot in the box
7. Close-up ballots in box
8. Abhisit and wife walking
9. SOUNDBITE (Thai) Abhisit Vejjajiva, Leader of Democrat Party:
"Today is an important day for the people who are concerned about the country, so we should go to vote."
10. Wide shot of Abhisit surrounded by media
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Abhisit Vejjajiva, Leader of Democrat Party:
"Go to vote"
12. Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont walking into polling station
13. Election officials checking papers
14. Surayud casting ballot
15. Wide shot Leader of the People's Power Party, Samak Sundaravej, walking into polling station
16. Photographers
17. Various of Samak casting ballot
18. Wide shot of media
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Samak Sundaravej, Leader of People's Power Party:
"When we have the election, when we have the House (of Representatives), any time that fits to, he (Thaksin) must come back to face the charge, and he cannot touch in any politics in this country because it is against the law."
20. Wide of Samak surrounded by media
21. Thai Prime Minister, Surayud Chulanont, voting
22. SOUNDBITE (English) Surayud Chulanont, Thai Prime Minister:
"It's the most difficult time because I'm acting as a referee so it will be very, very fruitful for my time if I am able to make the peaceful transfer back to democracy."
23. Various of people voting
STORYLINE
The two main contenders in Thailand's general election cast their ballots on Sunday.
People's Power Party head Samak Sundaravej, and 43-year-old Abhisit Vejjajiva, who leads the Democrats, voted at separate locations in the Thai capital, Bangkok.
"Today is an important day for the people who are concerned about the country, so we should go to vote," Vejjajiva said after casting his ballot.
Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, deposed, exiled and allegedly corrupt, was poised for a comeback-by-proxy as his loyalists seemed
likely to win the election.
Thaksin, ousted from power by a military coup, may also come back in person early next year, sparking fears of political turbulence and sharp polarisation which has already plagued Thailand for two years.
"When we have the House (of Representatives)...he must come back to face the charge, and he cannot touch in any politics in this country because it is against the law," Sundaravej said of Thaksin after casting his ballot.
The polls, which opened at 8 am (0100 GMT), are being guarded by some 4,000 troops, most of them in southern Thailand where a Muslim insurgency has taken the lives of more than 2,600 people, according to the spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command.
The balloting, billed as Thailand's return to democracy after 15 months of military-propped rule, will end seven hours later and unofficial results are expected before midnight (1700 GMT) on Sunday.
The Election Commission has been barraged by more than 900 complaints of election fraud, mostly related to vote-buying.
The contest pits the People's Power Party, stacked by Thaksin supporters and adhering to his populist policies, against the Democrat Party, the country's oldest.
The top rivals for next prime minister are a study in stark contrasts.
Sundaravej, 72, is an acid-tongued, ultra-rightist dubbed a political dinosaur by the local press.
There are 45 (m) million eligible voters.

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