The opposition has won Thailand's general election by a landslide, exit polls show, paving the way for Yingluck Shinawatra to become the country's first female prime minister.
She is the younger sister of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and her Puea Thai party appears to have won around 300 of the 500 seats reports the BBC.
A poll for Suan Dusit university shows Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's Democrat Party has taken just 152 seats, while a poll by Bangkok's ABAC university suggested a result of 299 seats to 132.
The Puea party's red shirted supporters accuse the out-going prime minister of having colluded with the army, their grievances having simmered since a 2006 military coup overthrew her brother.
Last year, protesters shut down parts of Bangkok for two months in a bid to force the government to resign. When the army stepped in to clear the capital's streets it degenerated into violence, leaving 91 people dead.
There has been tight security with more than 170,000 police deployed.
Mr Thaksin remains a hugely divisive figure, adored by millions of rural voters but hated by the ruling elite and wanted on terrorism charges over the 2010 protests by his "Red Shirt" supporters.
His opposition Puea Thai party has proposed an amnesty for convicted politicians if it wins - a move apparently aimed at bringing Mr Thaksin home, where he faces a jail term for corruption imposed in his absence.
Parties linked to Mr Thaksin have won the most seats in the past four elections, but the courts reversed the results of the last two polls.
In contrast, Mr Abhisit's Democrat Party - the country's oldest, with a support base in Bangkok and the south - has not won a general election in nearly two decades.
The British-born premier took office in a 2008 parliamentary vote after a court ruling threw out the previous administration, and he is accused by his foes of being an unelected puppet of the military and the establishment.
The vote is seen as a major test of the kingdom's ability to emerge from its long political crisis, which pits Mr Thaksin's "Red Shirt" supporters against the rival "Yellow Shirt" royalist protest movement.
The polls closed at 3pm on Sunday (8pm NZ time).
