BANGKOK, Aug 6 – Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s approval rating outstripped that of her government, which was rated at only 4.8 out of 10 points, but 70 per cent of the public still want the premier to continue her work, according to an opinion poll released on Monday.
The Bangkok Poll was conducted among 1,177 respondents aged above 18 nationwide gathering their assessment in rating the Yingluck Shinawatra administration’s performance after one year in office this month.
Ms Yingluck herself was rated at 5.31 out of 10 points on her work as prime minister, up 0.02 points from the previous evaluation on the occasion of her government’s six-month performance—and barely half a point ahead of her government.
Regarding public satisfaction on the government’s performance, the respondents gave less that 50 per cent approval — 4.84 points — down 0.10 point from the six-month evaluation.
High profile Deputy Premier Chalerm Yubamrung topped the achievement list of ministers with 22.3 per cent — less than one in four respondents — voicing approval, followed by Deputy Prime Minister/Interior Minister Yongyuth Vichaidit at 5.1 per cent.
The largest number of respondents, 29.8 per cent or nearly one in three of those surveyed said no minister demonstrated an outstanding performance.
The government’s most approved performance rate was in drug suppression (27.9 per cent or less than one in three respondents), followed by low ratings in regard to the water management and flood rehabilitation scheme (15.4 per cent) and raising the minimum wage to Bt300 per day (13.7 per cent).
Regarding the performance of political parties, the ruling Pheu Thai Party was rated at 5.28 out of 10 points, the coalition parties at 4.37, while the Opposition Democrat Party got 3.55 points.
Nearly three out of four persons — 70.4 per cent of the respondents — say they want Ms Yingluck to continue her work, and only 9.8 per cent said a Cabinet reshuffle is necessary.
Meanwhile, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Monday that the Opposition will not lodge a no-confidence motion until the debate on the budget bill is finished and the government delivers its one-year performance statement.
Mr Abhisit said there’s still time to collect information to scrutinise the government, and the current parliament session will not last until December.
Following recent polls indicating that the public did not want a censure debate, Mr Abhisit commented that the public might worry about possible turmoil or might not yet know enough information as the ordinary House session has just resumed.
“The censure is not something to worry about as it is a checks and balance mechanism which requires the House to present facts and information,” Mr Abhisit said.
