Most people are of the opinion that the Move Forward Party failed in a bid to form a government and the nomination of its leader Pita Limjaroenrat for prime minister because of its being adamant not to leave out some of its policies, according to an opinion survey by the National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll.
Most people think the Move Forward Party (MFP) failed in a bid to form a government with its leader Pita Limjaroenrat as prime minister because of its insistence not to compromise on some of its policies, according to an opinion survey by the National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll.
The poll was conducted on July 24-26 by telephone interviews with 1,310 people aged 18 and over of various levels of education, occupations and incomes throughout the country.
Asked which mistakes had led to the MFP's failure to form a government and elect Mr Pita as prime minister, the answers varied as follows:
• 42.98% said the MFP refused to drop some of its policies in exchange for more support
• 30.46% did not think the MFP had made any mistakes
• 27.56% said the MFP was defeated in a political game in parliament
• 11.68% said the MFP had been reclusive, causing it to have no political allies
• 10.23% said the MFP had no true understanding of Thai political culture
• 9.54% said the MFP was not careful enough about the qualifications of its prime ministerial candidate
• 7.94% said the MFP had made a lot of political enemies
• 7.86% said some of its supporters' behavior deprived the MFP of support in parliament
• 7.56% said the MFP relied too much on its supporters' groups
• 6.11% said the MFP was too complacent about its 14 million votes and 151 MPs
• 5.88% said the MFP's advisers miscalculated the situation
• 0.53% had no answer or were not interested
Asked whether political protests would erupt if the MFP ended up being in opposition, the answers were:
• 35.19% said there would be major rallies, but controllable
• 24.81% said there would be small rallies and controllable
• 23.16% said there would be major rallies that could get out of control
• 11.99% said there would not be any rally
• 2.90% said there would be some small rallies, but they would be uncontrollable
• 1.45% had no answer or were not interested
The MFP formed an alliance with the Pheu Thai and six other smaller parties, with a total of 312 MPs, to form a government. Mr Pita of the MFP was nominated for the post of prime minister in the first parliamentary voting on July 13, but he failed to get enough support from the Senate to secure the 375 votes needed for approval.