New polls show opposition Pheu Thai leading in Bangkok

original source : here (Asianews.net)

Two opinion polls conducted over the past week showed that voters in the capital favoured opposition Pheu Thai's constituency candidates, as well as its prime-ministerial candidate Yingluck Shinawatra over the Democrats and their PM candidate Abhisit Vejjajiva.

However, almost one-third of the respondents kept their choice to themselves, with 20-26 per cent saying they were undecided and about 7 per cent refusing to reveal whom they support.

A survey conducted by Dhurakij Pundit University, in cooperation with the Nation Group, showed that Pheu Thai was leading in 22 of the city's 33 constituencies, the Democrats have outright support in six, while it is a neck-and-neck competition in the remaining five constituencies. The Democrats are leading with a 5-percentage-point margin in the capital's Constituencies 1, 2, 10, 22, 27 and 32, while the competition is very close in Constituencies 4, 5, 7, 16 and 19.

When asked whom they would vote for as prime minister, 47 per cent of the respondents favoured Yingluck, 39 per cent backed Abhisit, 7 per cent picked Rak Santi Party leader Purachai Piumsomboon and 4 per cent opted for Rak Prathet Thai leader Chuwit Kamolvisit. The remaining 3 per cent wanted other politicians for the post.

The survey also found that 26 per cent of the respondents were undecided, while 6 per cent said they would keep their options open.

A survey conducted by Bangkok University also showed the Pheu Thai Party leading in terms of popularity, party-list candidates as well as the prime ministerial contender.

In this poll, 37.9 per cent of the respondents said they would opt for Pheu Thai candidates, 22.2 per cent Democrat candidates and 1.2 per cent said they would go for politicians under the Rak Santi banner.

However, as many as 22.1 per cent of the respondents said they were still undecided, 7.6 per cent refused to identify their favourite candidate, while slightly more than 5 per cent said they would tick the "no vote" box in their ballot papers.

When asked to name their favourite political party, 38.3 per cent of the respondents chose Pheu Thai, 21.6 per cent the Democrat Party, 3.4 per cent opted for Rak Thailand and 1.6 per cent backed Rak Santi.

The latest poll was conducted between June 16 and 22 on 3,338 eligible voters in all of Bangkok's 50 districts.

This was done through face-to-face interviews, with the respondents being asked to answer questionnaires.

Of the respondents, 47.2 per cent said they preferred Yingluck as the next prime minister because they wanted to see a new face running the country, while 28 per cent said they wanted Abhisit to continue with the job.

Meanwhile, the incumbent prime minister said he did not put much weight on the Bangkok University poll, because none of its surveys ever showed Democrats as winners. Other opinion polls, such as those conducted by Abac and Suan Dusit, showed the margin between the two key parties narrowing, he said.