(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-19 14:55

A Hmong hill tribe member casts her vote after polls opened for a national referendum at a polling station in Doi Pui in northern Chiang Mai province, 700km (435 miles) north of Bangkok August 19, 2007. [Reuters]

BANGKOK -- Situation remained peaceful in general as a national referendum on Thailand's draft constitution beginning Sunday morning was underway at some 88,000 polling stations across the country.

The voting kicked off at 8 am (0100 GMT) and will end at 4 pm (0900 GMT). The unofficial results could be known by 9 pm ( 1400 GMT) on the day, according to the Election Commission.

A total of some 45.7 million eligible voters across the country 's 76 provinces, nearly one-tenth of them in Bangkok, have been urged by the government to cast their ballots in the referendum, the first of its kind ever held in Thailand's history.

At around 10:40 am (0340 GMT), Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont arrived at the 20th pooling station in Phayathai district, central Bangkok, where more than 100 reporters and photographers had been waiting since early morning, to cast his own vote.

Surayud said the referendum day is a historic moment for the nation, and from what has been witnessed at all pooling stations around the country this morning, the voter turnout by far is satisfactory.

In nearby Dusit district, President of the Privy Council General Prem Tinsulanonda had cast his vote as early as the voting started.

Prem, the country's leading statesman whom anti-coup groups have accused of orchestrating the September 19 coup, said he would like to see the situation remain stable, regardless of the referendum result.

Sharing spotlight of the day were Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the youngest daughter of ousted PM Thaksin, and Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, one of Thaksin's major political opponents, who cast their ballots in the morning in Bangkok.

Situation around the country remained generally peaceful. Although there was reports that some individuals in Ayutthaya province neighboring Bangkok tore their ballots to show anti-coup sentiment, no anti-charter violence has been reported so far.

The Thai Rak Thai Group, the new banner for Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai Party after it was ordered to dissolve by a Constitutional Tribunal verdict on May 30 on electoral fraud charges, and the anti-coup group Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship are expected to hold rallies after the referendum ends at 4 pm (0900 GMT).

195,000 police have been deployed to keep law and order for the referendum around Thailand, according to acting deputy national police chief Vichian Pojposri.

While in the three restive southernmost provinces -- Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani, and four districts of nearby province of Songkhla, where insurgent violence continued unabated since early 2004, the Fourth Army Area has deployed more than 15,000 soldiers to man the 2,558 polling stations.

The imminent concern is about the turnout.

The Surayud government had earlier set the target at more than a half (of the eligible voters), and launched various campaigns nationwide to encourage people to exercise their voting rights, including holding marches and rallies, setting up street billboards, running TV advertisements and creating a theme song.

Local media reported that provincial and village heads have been pressured to ensure a good turnout, otherwise would face some punishment.

The government also announced August 20, a Monday, as a public holiday to allow more time for people to travel back to their hometown.

Judging from the attendance by 9 am (0200 GMT), officials monitoring some polling stations said they were optimistic that the turnout would be around 70 percent.

The puzzle is that there is no one and nothing so far that has stated what percentage of voter turnout is required to qualify the results as valid.

If approved, this would become Thailand's 18th constitution since the kingdom established a constitutional monarchy in 1932.

After launching a successful coup on September 19, 2006 to oust then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the military-led Council for Democratic Reform (CDR), later transformed into Council for National Security (CNS), abrogated the 1997 Constitution, promulgated an interim constitution on October 1, 2006 and installed the Surayud-led interim government.

After the Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) voted unanimously to pass the draft charter on July 6, almost 20 million copies of the draft charter were sent to families nationwide for voters' scrutiny, while about 47 million ballots have been distributed to voters in 927 districts in Thailand's 76 provinces.

If the majority vote "yes" to the draft charter, the National Legislative Assembly will submit the charter for Royal endorsement. It will take effect once it is signed by King Bhumibol Aduyaldej and published on the Royal Gazette.

If the draft is rejected, the CNS said, according to the interim constitution, it would pick one of the 17 older versions of constitution, with some amendments, to act as the new constitution that governs the country.

It is hard to predict the results, as the Thai public are divided on the draft charter.

Many of the supporters see its approval as the way to facilitate a new general election by the end of this year, and to return the country back to normal track after two years' political turbulence.