Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha has the approval of a slim majority of the public for his performance in his first year in office as prime minister of an elected government, according to the result of an opinion survey by the National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll.
The poll was conducted on June 1-2 on 1,250 people aged 18 and above of various levels of education and occupations throughout the country to compile their opinions on the overall performance of Gen Prayut one year after he gained the premiership after a disputed election.
Gen Prayut was elected prime minister by parliament on June 5, 2019 following the March 24 general election.
On his overall performance as prime minister during the past year, a thin majority of respondents -- 51.52% -- gave their approval. Of them, 15.92% said Gen Prayut had performed his duties outstandingly showing strong determination to work for the country's development and the people, while 35.60% said he had performed fairly well, especially his handling of the Covid-19 crisis.
On the other side, 27.44% thought he had not performed well enough and still had some shortcomings and 20.48% said he had run the country's administration ineffectively, particularly his handling of economic problems.
The rest, 0.56%, did not answer or were not interested.
Concerning his ideology, 54.72% of the respondents thought Gen Prayut had a strong commitment to work for the country and the people, while 40.72% said otherwise, saying he had worked only to maintain his own power and that of his colleagues; 4.56% did not answer or were not interested.
Concerning his decisiveness, 52.24% said Gen Prayut was decisive when dealing with important political and administrative issues while 43.84% said he was indecisive on every issue; 3.92% did not answer or were not interested.
Asked about Gen Prayut's transparency and accountability, 45.76% said he lacked both transparency and accountability; 40.80% said he was a man of transparency and accountability; and 13.76% did not answer or were not interested.