Abhisit and the people voice opposition to coup

Attending a party seminar in Ubon Ratchathani, Opposition leader Abhisit said 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 non-systemic 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 revealed yesterday that its latest opinion survey found 81.7 per cent of respondents were opposed to 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 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 close to 82 per cent are still opposed to a coup.
The survey found that 53 per cent of the respondents said they would do nothing if a coup was staged while 21 per cent said they would campaign against the coup-maker and 26 per cent had no comment.
Asked to name five political problems that could lead to severe social rifts, 54.5 per cent cited proposed charter amendments. This was followed by the proposed changes to the lese-majesty law (52 per cent). The three other issues were: amnesty or help provided by associates and relatives of politicians in power (49.6 per cent); paying compensation to political violence victims (38 per cent); and appointing persons with questionable backgrounds to the Cabinet (34 per cent). While Abhisit and the public expressed opposition to a coup, a former senior military officer said yesterday a coup was still possible.