CDC to use professional pollsters
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CONSTITUTION Drafting Commission subcommittees will hire professional pollsters to conduct surveys on charter content due to time constraints.
Supachai Yavapraphas, deputy chairman of a subcommittee scrutinising the charter’s executive structure, said yesterday that his group had consulted with the panel on the legislative structure about conducting surveys on the elected and non-elected PM and the make-up of the Senate.
He said the pollsters belonged to state educational institutes such as Nida Poll and Dusit Poll.
Nida has 170,000 people in its database covering every province and surveys people by phone. Dusit Poll surveys via personal interviews and has staff to conduct them across the country.
The CDC is planning questionnaires on the charter draft for the surveys. “We are opting for short questions that require ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers,’’ Supachai said.
He said questions could be in-depth but the structure would not be complex. He said his group had not decided whether the executive structure should be made in the way that led to a weak or strong government. The one thing it had decided was to write the charter so that it could be adapted in accordance with changing times.
“Elected governments should adjust the charter with the times. We are not writing restrictions, but will ensure the government serves the public,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, a CDC source said Thitiphan Chuaboonchai, chairman of the panel on public hearings and making conclusions from public opinion, held a meeting to get opinions and information from members of the last CDC, the public and academics.
The subcommittee determined that it needed more public feedback and would not repeat what the previous drafters had done in terms of seeking opinions because of time constraints, the source said.
The subcommittee would conduct interviews with more people and use the same channels that the previous CDC used, such as post, television, radio and newspapers, to engage the public in the process, the source said.
They would hire the same team from King Prajadhipok’s Institute that worked for the previous drafters to gather information.
The subpanel on public relations and gathering public feedback will work with the panel on gathering opinions and drawing conclusions.
The former is selecting a pollster to gather opinions from the public before seeking state funds for that.
