Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday reaffirmed his prediction that the Democrats might win about 240 House seats at the next general election, which could give him the chance to lead the coalition for a second term.
"There are a large number of undecided votes that the Democrats could sway," he said, explaining his upbeat forecast.
The party currently has 172 House seats, but the PM said he predicted they may gain votes in the next poll as he sensed they could tap into undecided votes. Abac Poll results had suggested this was possible.
Abhisit said he strongly felt that undecided voters would swing in the government's favour about one to two weeks ahead of the polls.
Commenting on his low popularity rating in the capital, he said it was normal for Bangkok voters to treat an incumbent prime minister with scepticism. In past elections, Bangkok votes would swing three to four days before the election day to allow the Democrats to overtake their rivals, he said.
He said he was not overly concerned about his popularity rating because the opinion poll made a comparison between him and a number of hypothetical leaders and not real contenders for the prime minister's post.
Democrat MP Chumpol Kanchana said he was upbeat the government would survive the last two years of its term.
The government's survival is expected because of two reasons - none of the coalition partners would set the charter rewrite as a pre-condition to make or break the alliance and the red shirts' opposition movement would not risk inciting violence to oust the government, he said.
The country was well on the track to economic recovery and the government had a realistic chance to earmark the budget for the 2011 fiscal year before calling an election, he said.
Chumpol said in the absence of rifts or jitters within his party, Abhisit's goal of winning 240 House seats was doable.
The opposition Pheu Thai Party had a different take on the situation, however.
Party spokesman Prompong Nopparit said the Democrat-led government ranked second in terms of corruption in Asia based on a survey last year by Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, a Hong Kong-based risk assessment firm.
Prompong called on the government to look into a scandal related to position-buying in the Interior Ministry. Bribes were sought and received for provincial and district jobs, he alleged.
His main opposition party received a number of complaints exposing cash payments in exchange for police appointments, he said.
To secure positions in the Provincial Police Region 8 covering Phuket, Krabi, Phang-nga and Surat Thani, prospective candidates had to pay Bt3.5 million per appointment as provincial police commander, he said. The appointment for a plum job in Phuket might cost as high as Bt14 million.
