Giám đốc tổ chức thăm dò dư luận trước bầu cử ở Thái Lan: đảng Vì người Thái vượt mặt đảng Dân chủ

Poll boss defends finding that Democrats trailing Puea Thai

Bangkok Post
Published: 5/04/2011

The director of the Abac Poll has defended the credibility of its latest survey which suggested that the opposition Puea Thai Party has a clear lead over the Democrats in Bangkok.

Noppadol Kannikar, director of the Abac Poll at the Assumption University, said Puea Thai was found to have taken the lead in the agency's surveys conducted over the past six months.

"It is not our first finding. It is the third finding in the past six months," he said.

According to the latest poll results, Puea Thai's popularity in the capital has increased significantly. About 33% of respondents said they backed the party, against 21% who said they would vote for the Democrats.

But given the outcome of past elections, some observers could not help feeling that something might not be quite right with the poll results.

In the 2007 election, the Democrats grabbed 27 out of 36 seats in Bangkok against nine seats won by the People Power Party (PPP), which was later reincarnated as Puea Thai. In ensuing by-elections, the Democrats also won, leaving the PPP just five seats in Bangkok.

In the elections for Bangkok and district councillors, the Democrats captured 80% of the overall seats.

Mr Noppadol said that a large number of the poll respondents felt they had not got what they were promised and the government's help had been slow.

He said that the people surveyed were the ones who were supposed to benefit from the government's policies and they complained about the implementation.

Mr Noppadol said it was different to what happened during the Thaksin Shinawatra administration when low-income earners "felt a difference" at the end of his tenure.

"They felt they were being cared for. So the [dissolved] Thai Rak Thai came back in fresh elections," he said.

Mr Noppadol said overall the ruling party is the most popular so far. The Democrat Party could maintain its huge support in the South and gain more support in the North and Northeast.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva played down the survey findings, saying popularity changed all the time. He declined to respond to speculation that the devastating floods in the South would make a dent in the party's popularity there.

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/230325/poll-boss-defends-finding-that-democrats-trailing-puea-thai