A majority of people want the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to stay on for another two years to pursue reforms after the new constitution is promulgated, according to an opinion survey conducted by the National Institute for Development Administration, or Nida Poll.
The poll was carried out between Aug 17 and 22 on 2,500 people aged 18 and over of various levels of education and occupations to compile their opinion on "one year of Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha as prime minister".
Asked what they think about Gen Prayut after one year as prime minister, 46.5% of respondents said he had performed his duties fairly well and 38.8% very well, reasoning that the country had been in peace without political conflict during the past year under his leadership, although he had shortcomings in solving economic problems. The rest said otherwise.
Concerning Gen Prayut's leadership, 70.96% said he was a military-style leader, 15.92% said he was a democratic leader, 10.6% said he had a mixed personality of a military and democratic leader, 0.08% thought he had no leadership at all, and 2.44% had no response.
On Gen Prayut's decisiveness, 85.1% thought he dared to make important political and administrative decisions; 9.4% said he still lacked decisiveness regarding important political and administrative matters; 2% said he was decisive on some matters but undecided on others; and 3.5% had no comment.
Regarding transparency and accountability, 70.8% of the respondents said Gen Prayut's performance was transparent with accountability; 10.7% said otherwise; and the rest had no comment.
Asked how would they vote if there is a referendum today on whether the Prayut government should stay on in power for another two years to carry out reforms before elections after the new charter has been in place, the majority of 55.3% said they would vote for it to stay on; 19.2% said they would vote against it; 20.2% said they would abstain from voting; and the rest were undecided.