Most people say two years after the coup that their level of happiness remains unchanged, despite the by the National Council for Peace and Order's vow to return happiness to the people, according to an opinion poll by the National Institute for Development Administration, or Nida Poll.
The poll was carried out on May 17-18 on 1,250 people aged 18 and over throughout the country to gauge the people's opinion on how the NCPO has achieved its promise.
On the level of happiness after the NCPO's two years in power, most of the respondents, 43.28%, said the level of their happiness has remained unchanged, particularly regarding economic issues; 37.68% said they are happier with higher safety in daily life and stricter law enforcement; 18.24% said they have less happiness because of economic hardship, inadequate incomes as a result of lower prices of farm products, and restrictions of their rights to expressing opinions; and, the rest have no comments.
In a survey conducted last year on the first anniversary of the NCPO, 49.44% of the respondents said they had more happiness than before, 40.72% had the same happiness as before, and 18.24% said they had less happiness.
Asked what caused them to become happier during the past two years of the NCPO in power, a majority or 52.96% mentioned law and order without political unrest; 14.16% said nothing caused them to become happier; 11.68% mentioned suppression of corruption; and 8% pointed to rearrangement of social order.
To the question of what they were not happy with during the past two years, 29.36% mentioned the overall economic situation; 15.84% said nothing caused them to have less happiness; 14.4% mentioned the government's inability to solve problems for farmers; 11.92% mentioned the cost of living; and 7.6% pointed to the fact that there was not yet a government from an election.