Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Thailand’s progressive People’s Party has extended its lead in the opinion polls ahead of next week’s general election, with its candidate Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut enjoying a healthy lead as the preferred prime minister.
The February 8 polls will pit the People’s Party against Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s Bhumjaithai party and the political machine of the Pheu Thai party, which formed a government after the 2023 election but collapsed in September after Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was removed from office for an ethics violation.
A nationwide survey conducted by Suan Dusit Poll, conducted during January 16-28 and released last week, found the People’s Party ranking first by significant leads in both party-list and constituency preferences, the Bangkok Post reported.
Natthaphong, 38, was the preferred prime ministerial candidate of 35.1 per cent of respondents, a slight increase from the Suan Dusit poll conducted during January 13-16. Pheu Thai’s candidate Yodchanan Wongsawat came in second place with 21.5 percent support, up from 19.9 percent in the earlier poll. Support for Anutin, who came in third place with 16.1 percent, was virtually unchanged.
A separate poll by the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), conducted nationwide during January 23-27, had similar, albeit less dramatic, findings.
As a party that enjoys the support of Thailand’s royalist establishment, however, Bhumjaithai enjoys a benefit unavailable to either of its major rivals.
The election was called after Anutin dissolved Parliament in mid-December, when the People’s Party threatened to call a no-confidence vote that would likely have brought down his minority government.