Thailand's rival political parties wrap up their campaigns on the eve of a hard-fought election considered crucial to the future of the kingdom after years of turbulence.<br />Authorities say 170,000 police are to be deployed to protect polling stations for Sunday's vote, which comes little more than a year after Bangkok was rocked by its worst civil violence in decades.<br />Polls show the main opposition Pheu Thai Party, led by Yingluck Shinawatra, sister of the fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, enjoying a lead over current prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's Democrats ahead of Sunday's election.<br />Yingluck, a 44-year-old businesswoman, has seen a swift rise into the lead by tapping support in the rural north and northeast heartland where her brother remains popular five years after he was toppled in a coup. <br />But Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's Democrat Party has dismissed Yingluck as a political novice serving as a nominee to allow Thaksin to return from exile, where he lives to avoid a two-year jail term for graft. <br /><br />Al Jazeera's Aela Callan reports from northern Thailand.
