A majority of people want Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to dissolve the House of Representatives as soon as possible now that the government has become unstable, but doubt he will do so, according to the result of a survey by National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll.
The poll was conducted by telephone interviews on Feb 14-17 with 1,313 people aged 18 and over of various levels of education and occupations throughout the country to compile their opinions on the possibility of Gen Prayut dissolving the House of Representatives.
Asked when they thought Gen Prayut would dissolve the House of Representatives, a majority, 68.09%, believed the prime minister had no plan to do so, but would stay on to complete his term in 2023; 8.91% thought he would do so before a no-confidence debate could be sought in late May; and 8.23% thought he would do so after Thailand had hosted a meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) in November 2022.
A further 6.09% thought he would dissolve the House after the two election-related bills had been passed by Parliament and promulgated around July this year; 4.95% believed it would be after the 2023 budget bill was passed by Parliament around August; and 3.73% had no answer or were not interested.
Asked when they thought the prime minister should dissolve the House of Representatives, 58.79% said "as soon as possible"; 23.38% said he should stay on to complete his term in 2023; and 5.18% said he should do so after Thailand had finished hosting the Apec meeting in November.
A further 4.19% said the House dissolution should take place before a no-confidence debate could be sought in late May; 3.43% said it should happen after the budget bill had been approved by Parliament in August; and 1.22% had no answer or were not interested.
Asked to rate the stability of the Prayut Chan-o-cha government, 43.11% thought it had no stability at all; 33.05% said it had little stability; 16.38% said it was fairly stable; and 7.46% said the government was solid.