BANGKOK, 24 June 2011 – The Democrat Party is ahead of the Pheu Thai Party in three southernmost provinces where the majority of people have made their decision who they will vote for in the 3 July election, according to a recent survey by Prince of Songkla University Pattani Campus.
The survey was conducted with 3,000 respondents residing in three southernmost provinces from 13 to 19 June 2011. It was jointly conducted by the Office of Extension and Continuing Education and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Prince of Songkla University.
46.1% of the respondents had monitored political news while 3.7% did not pay attention at all. 98.9% of the respondents said they would cast their votes while the rest of 1.1% would not. 69.4% had already made decision who they would vote for while other 30.6% remained undecided.
Asked for their political preference, 35.4% and 21.6% of the respondents would vote for the Democrat and the Pheu Thai Parties respectively. 8.3% will choose the Matubhum Party while 4.8% and 2.1% preferred the Bhumjaithai and Rak Thailand Parties respectively.
Asked for criteria in deciding their choice of candidates, the respondents elaborated that they considered honesty, competency, policies of political parties, leadership, devotion and personal preferences.
Meanwhile, criteria used in the selection of political parties are concrete policies, sincerity of candidates to work for common benefits, understanding of political parties and their readiness to listen to people’s problems, political ideology, honesty and transparency in their operation.
