POLL: Thai politics unchanged, honesty and transparency wanted
A new poll shows that most people in Thailand don’t believe that politics have really changed much. They like responsible, honest politicians and hate people who break promises and abuse authority. They want their political parties to be honest and transparent with a clear goal. Corruption is the biggest issue they want to be tackled.
Poll respondents said that they think that Thailand can further itself as a democracy by having transparent elections, not limiting people’s freedom of speech, and fighting to follow the ways of a true democracy.
The Suan Dusit poll was conducted last week, between the dates of December 11 and December 14. It gathered responses from 1157 people in an online survey. Yesterday they released the results from their poll asking questions about what people thought about the last five years of Thai politics, and what kind of politicians and political parties they liked and disliked.
Poll respondents were allowed to pick more than one answer for the majority of questions. Some of the key responses are below:
What do you think about Thai politics over the past five years?
- 47.02%: Unchanged
- 44.68%: Worsened
- 8.30%: Improved
What kind of politicians do you like?
- 79.22%: Ones who are responsible and can tackle problems quickly
- 77.83%: Ones who are honest and not greedy for power and benefits
- 76.70%: Ones who are good in management and knowledgeable
What kind of politicians do you not like?
- 87.50%: Ones who don’t keep their promises and attack others
- 83.68%: Ones who misuse authority
- 78.99%: Ones who are not transparent
What kind of political parties do you like?
- 91.57%: Ones that are transparent and obey the law
- 84.10%: Ones that are united and have a clear stance
- 82.71%: Ones that have knowledgeable members and can create high-quality politicians
What issues do you want politicians to solve?
- 76.78%: Corruption
- 68.17%: Economy
- 67.22%: People’s welfare
What do you think will help further develop Thailand’s democracy?
- 76.65%: Transparent elections
- 69.97%: Freedom of speech
- 68.49%: Awareness of true democracy
