Abhisit and public oppose talk of coup
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Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva Sunday expressed his opposition to the idea of a military power seizure in Thailand while an opinion survey found that most people are also against a coup.
Attending a party seminar in Ubon Ratchathani, Opposition leader Abhisit told reporters he disagreed with any call for the military to topple the Pheu Thai Party government.
The call was made last week by the People’s Alliance for Democracy.
“A political change should not happen through nonsystematic means. We should help support the political system to proceed – and political problems should be handled by the mechanisms of the system,” Abhisit said.
“If we see that the government has done what is not right, we must use the Constitution to address [the problem] or should base our actions on the charter.”
Meanwhile, the Abac Poll of Assumption University announced Sunday its latest opinion survey found that 81.7 per cent of respondents opposed the idea of a coup.
The survey was conducted among 2,153 respondents in 17 provinces.
Abac Poll found that the percentage of people who supported the idea of a power seizure by the military in January this year increased from 5.4 per cent in January last year to 18.3 per cent – but 81.7 per cent are still opposed to a coup.
The survey found that 52.7 per cent of the respondents said they would do nothing if a coup was staged while 21.1 per cent said they would campaign against the coup maker and 26.2 per cent had no comment.
