Four in 10 voters say they’ll choose ‘the large party’: poll

Published on February 4, 2005

About 40 per cent of the voters in Sunday’s election will cast their ballot for a certain large political party, according to a Chamber Business Poll undertaken last week.

The poll conducted among 2,000 respondents across the country found that 40.4 per cent of the respondents said they would vote for the large party against 27.9 per cent who said they would vote for an old party.

A further 16.8 per cent said they would choose a medium-sized party while 14.9 per cent said they would opt for a new party.

In the party-list category, the large-sized party again stands poised to grab the lion’s share of the vote, according to the poll. About 38 per cent of the respondents said they would support the large party’s candidates in the party-list category.

And 28 per cent said they would vote for the old party, 18.3 per cent for the medium-sized party while 14.7 per cent said they would support the new party.

The survey was conducted by Chamber Business Poll, a unit of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, between January 28-31.

The survey found similar voting patterns in Bangkok and the northeastern, central and northern regions, with the largest share (from 30 to 40 per cent)

of the respondents in all four areas saying they would vote for the large party, followed by the old party, the medium-sized party and the new party respectively.

However, the majority of respondents in the South, or 54 per cent, said they would vote for the old party, followed by the others.

The pollsters also surveyed about 600 businessmen about their expectations for the new government. Almost 20 per cent said that official corruption should be given the highest priority.

Around 18 per cent said they wanted the government to tac-kle the issue of household debts, 14.8 per cent wanted to see the government reform education while only 6 per cent said they are worried about the economy.

“The result shows that most businessmen are not worried about the economy and are more worried about corruption and household debt levels that could pose long-term economic problems,” said Thanavath Phonvichai, chairman of Chamber Business Poll.

The survey found that the general public wanted to see the new government urgently tackle poverty (20 per cent), drugs and corruption (19 per cent each) and household debt levels (16 per cent).

Respondents also said they were keen to know the political parties’ positions, especially on education and social welfare.

They declared that they were satisfied with the free tuition coupon policy and the Bt30 universal healthcare programme.

One-fourth of the respondents said they considered the honesty of candidates and their policies when deciding who to vote for.

About 18 per cent said they would vote for the candidates with the most interesting policies.

Fourteen per cent said it would be the MP candidate who was most often present in their constituency and 14 per cent said they would choose the candidate with the strongest credentials on social causes.

The survey also found that only 63 per cent of the Bangkok respondents said they would definitely go to vote, the lowest level among all the regions.

The highest promised turnout was in the South, where 78 per cent said they would go to the polling station on Sunday.

Bangkokians also had the highest number of undecided voters.

Sasithorn Ongdee
The Nation

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