A slim majority of people doubt a claim by the Future Forward Party (FFP) that 13 of its MPs were offered money in exchange for supporting Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha as prime minister, and a large majority would like the party to show evidence of the attempted bribery, according to a survey by the National Institute of Development Administration.
Nida conducted the survey on 1,267 people sampled through phone nationwide on Monday and Tuesday following a press conference on June 4 when 13 FFP MPs claimed they were offered 30-120 million baht each to vote for Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha as prime minister.
Slightly more than half of respondents -- 53% -- doubted the claim was true, saying there was no evidence.
The survey found that 21.70% of respondents believed the bribery accusation but doubted that any FFP MP was offered as much as 120 million baht. A further 15.23% believed both the claim and the 120-million-baht figure, while 9.79% were unsure.
Asked if FFP should take legal action against the party that allegedly offered to buy its MPs, 77.27% of the respondents said 'yes,' demanding that that FFP show evidence to back the claim, while 15.78% said the party should not take any action in order to protect the safety of its members.