Most people clueless about new charter

Most people clueless about new charter

Policeman directs traffic on Sathon Road, Bangkok. (Photo by Pornprom Satrabhaya)
Policeman directs traffic on Sathon Road, Bangkok. (Photo by Pornprom Satrabhaya)

A majority of people do not know how the draft charter will affect their lives if it is passed in the Aug 7 referendum, according to the result of a survey carried out by Rajabhat Suan Dusit University, or Suan Dusit Poll.

The poll was conducted on June 6-11 on 1,182 people throughout the country.

Asked whether they know how the draft charter, if passed into law in the referendum, will affect them, a majority or 53.3% said they did not know because they had not followed the news on it, there was little public relations work on it, and the issue was hard to understand, while 46.7% said they knew it would be the country's supreme law and important to them regarding rights, freedom and people's participation.

Asked what they expect to get from the new charter, 78.39% mentioned rights, freedom, equality and justice; 72.71% wanted to have a peaceful country with stability; 66.37% spoke of a perfect supreme law for the country; 62.44% wanted to see elections and democracy; and, 61.08% expected their basic rights over education, health and livelihood to be taken care of. 

On elections, a huge majority, or 81.22%, of the respondents did not know what the draft charter states about their election rights and 18.78% knew only that Thai people aged 18 and over have the right to vote in an election.

Regarding reforms, most of the respondents, 56.35%, did not know in what fields the government had carried out reforms, while 43.65% said they knew the government had carried out reforms on the economy, education, transport, politics and the country's administration.

Asked whether they think the new charter will improve their livelihood, 50.51% of the respondents said they thought their life would remain the same as before, 36.55% said it would be better due to reforms, and 12.94% thought their life would be worse because politicians would pay more attention to their own interests than that of the majority.

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