A large majority of people are not surprised by Chadchart Sittipunt's election as Bangkok governor, with some saying it may diminish the government's popularity, according to the result of an opinion survey by the National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll.
The poll was conducted on May 25-27 by telephone interviews with 1,322 people aged 18 and over of various levels of education, occupations and incomes throughout the country to gauge their reaction to the result of the May 22 gubernatorial elections.
A huge majority, 86.61%, said they were not surprised by Mr Chadchart's landslide victory. Of them, 77.76% said Mr Chadchart is fully qualified for the job, having shown his determination to work for the people, while 8.85% said he is a man with strong leadership skills and neutrality to work with all sides.
On the other side, 7.34% said they were totally surprised as Mr Chadchart had not done anything for the development of Bangkok and 6.05% were fairly surprised because he managed to win with a landslide despite running as an independent.
Asked what effects Mr Chadchart's election would have on national-level politics, the answers varied as follows:
- 38.88% believed it would affect the government's popularity;
- 32.53% did not think it would affect the government's popularity;
- 15.96% said it was only a local-level election;
- 9.53% said a dissolution of the House of Representatives could come sooner than expected;
- 8.40% said it would have some effects on the election of MPs in Bangkok only;
- 6.43% said there might be more political conflicts or division in Thai society;
- 4.99% said some political parties and groups could exploit Mr Chadchart's victory in their opposition to the government;
- 3.33% said the government would have to work harder to regain popularity; and
- 2.12% believed some parties might pull out of the coalition government for their own survival.