Higher ratio of Thais voted than Americans in last poll
Numbers and percentages from studies, polls, elections, referendums, etc, are often misused by not setting them in any context or making any interpretation but instead just used as quick and cheap arguments in struggles or discussions.
In a competing newspaper one letter writer tried to ridicule one of your regular letter contributors in a cocky way by teaching him about percentages. He proudly claimed that 61 per cent out of 55 per cent equalled only one third of eligible voters were behind the “yes” vote in the referendum and as such it was a poor result. Really.
Take the US for example where voter turnouts often are around 50 per cent and the races are close, like 51 per cent to the winner, which means around a quarter of eligible voters are behind the winner. One third is more than a quarter as some of us have learned, so young Thailand aspiring for democracy seem to have more public support and participation behind it’s decisions than the US, a US with two hundred years of development of its own democratic system.
A Johnsen
