THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Political parties must earn people’s confidence: Abhisit

Political parties must earn people’s confidence: Abhisit

The leader of Democrat Party, Abhisit Vejjajiva, said on Wednesday that there is a need to boost people’s faith in political parties. His comments came after it was revealed that the major parties ranked low in a recent survey of public confidence conducted by King Prajadhipok’s Institute.

In the poll conducted on more than 30,000 people between April 24 and May 15, the Democrat Party – which is the oldest in the country – ranked the lowest at 36.3 per cent, while the Non Governmental Organisations was at 38.3, and Pheu Thai Party 39.4.
Abhisit, however, pointed out that all political organisations were in a situation where they were losing credibility.
“I have always stressed that political parties must try to regain confidence and faith from the people. Partly, it will be clearer after political activities are allowed again,” the Democrat leader said. “In the meantime, we can take the time to think about how we will change, as the people have been dissatisfied with our work.”
Asked how his party would boost people’s faith, he said he personally would prioritise economic issues.
However, the key problem in the country remained corruption, and political parties must prove their transparency, he said.
Although new mechanisms were being created to curb fraud, Abhisit appeared to doubt their effectiveness.
“There’s little progress in dealing with the issue. There’s no guarantee about the extent to which the new mechanisms would work,” the former PM said.
Abhisit also expressed concern over the use of the sweeping powers available under Article 44.
“People might feel the exercise of Article 44 is decisive. But unless the system [that fosters the issue] is improved, questions of transparency and discrimination will persist,” he said.
Regarding his party, Abhisit said he had emphasised that members be more disciplined when it came to expressing opinions in media interviews.

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