Survey shows poor campaigns for charter referendum
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Survey shows poor campaigns for charter referendum

The Election Commission begins delivery of draft charter copies at Bangkok's government complex in May to campaign for the referendum on Aug 7. (Photo by Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)
The Election Commission begins delivery of draft charter copies at Bangkok's government complex in May to campaign for the referendum on Aug 7. (Photo by Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)

An opinion survey by Bangkok University shows people felt the government had inactively campaigned for the constitution referendum on Aug 7 but the remaining time may be enough for efficient campaigns.

The survey on 1,183 people sampled nationwide from Tuesday to Thursday found that 79.6% of respondents rarely saw referendum campaigns in their localities and 15.2% witnessed active campaigns in their communities.

Asked how much information they received about the draft charter, 66% said they had insufficient information and 30.8% said they had enough.

About 50% of respondents were happy with the Election Commission's planned distribution of booklets on the main content of the draft charter 15 days before the referendum day. They said the period would be enough for them to make a decision. About 38% said the time was not enough while 12% had no idea.

Seventy-one percent of respondents were confident that the referendum monitoring centres of the government would ensure a fair referendum, while 15% viewed the centres could influence voters and 14% had no idea.

Of the surveyed people, 64.6% were not interested in installing application software related to the referendum while 29.9% said they were interested. Only 1.6% of respondents already installed the software on their smart devices.

The Aug 7 referendum is for eligible voters to decide on the second draft charter made during the tenure of the National Council for Peace and Order.

Drafters said it was designed to solve national problems, including corruption, effectively. Voters will also decide whether appointed senators can jointly vote for the next prime minister.

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