THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Voters prefer MP over ‘outsider’ as PM: survey

Voters prefer MP over ‘outsider’ as PM: survey

Most Thai voters prefer an MP to become the next prime minister rather than an “outsider”, an opinion survey has found. The survey was been carried out by Bangkok University among 1,114 voters nationwide.

The university announced on Saturday that 70.6 per cent of the respondents thought the prime minister should be selected from among elected MPs, while 29.4 per cent said the prime minister could be an outsider.
The survey comes amid growing speculation that Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, the chief of the National Council for Peace and Order, would seek to remain PM after the election as an “outsider” selected by MPs and Senators after the election. The new constitution allows a non-MP to become the prime minister during a five-year transitional period after the military junta’s control ends with an election.
Asked whether they would vote for Prayut to become the prime minister if the election were held today, 36.8 per cent of the respondents said “Yes”, while 34.8 per cent said “No” and the rest said they had no comment.
In May 2017, the university’s survey found that 52.8 per cent of the respondents said they would vote for Prayut as the prime minister.
Prayut recently said Thailand was going to have “Thai-style” democracy after the next election.
Asked what they think about Thai-style democracy, 29.1 per cent of the respondents said it would cause no change to Thai politics, while 27.9 per cent said it would lead to semi-military government politics and 22.5 per cent said it would prompt Thailand to have unity.

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