Free universal health care is the most sought-after policy for a majority of people in the upcoming election, according to an opinion poll.
Bangkok Poll found 57% of the respondents to its survey identified free medical coverage or universal health care as the policy that interests them the most, followed by farm aid (54.4%); those involving welfare, cost of living and income (48.3%); assistance for the underprivileged and the poor (48%), anti-corruption measures (45.7%) and infrastructure (27.7%).
Asked what kind of prime minister they want, 66.4% said they want a leader with integrity and no corruption record, followed by a resolute leader (46.6%), a leader with proven creativity or ides for new projects (45.9%) and a diligent person who works for the people (45.2%).
Only 15% said they wanted a non-partisan or “outsider” prime minister.
Notably, 12.4% want a leader from a new party while 12.3% want a PM from a large party such as the Democrats or Pheu Thai.
Asked whether they think Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is gaining popularity by visiting people in the provinces, in the guise of mobile cabinet meetings, 56.5% believe he would become more popular while 43.5% say he would gain only a little.
Asked whether they would choose Gen Prayut if they were to vote on a prime minister today, 40% said yes, up 3.2 percentage points from a previous poll in January. Another 25.5% say they would not vote for him, down 9.3 points from the previous survey, while 34.5% would abstain, up 6.1 points.
The survey, titled “What Kind of Prime Minister Thais Want”, was conducted on May 16 and 17 based on telephone interviews with 1,205 people aged 18 or over.