Thailand General Election Would Be Tight: Poll Shows

[webfact]

POLL

General election would be tight: poll shows

By The Nation

If a general election was held today the ruling Democrat Party and Opposition Pheu Thai Party would have a neck-to-neck tussle, according to a survey of eligible voters. But community leaders strongly supported the government in the same poll.

Abac Poll released the results yesterday of its poll entitled "If an election was held today" conducted with 1,898 eligible voters in 12 provinces and 865 community leaders who are kamnan, village heads and local government members from June to July.

About 35 per cent of community leaders said they would vote for the Democrats, while about 12 per cent liked the Pheu Thai Party and 13 per cent went for other parties. But about 40 per cent did not specify what party they would vote for.

Asked which party would be backed by villagers, community leaders said 32.5 per cent would vote for the Democrats while 32 per cent said Pheu Thai, about 11 per cent said other parties and 25 per cent did not specify a party.

Of the villagers asked which party they would vote for, 28 per cent said they would support the Democrats, while 24 per cent said Pheu Thai, and 7 per cent said other parties. But nearly 41 per cent said they had not made a decision.

Of the community leaders surveyed in the poll, 77 per cent were men, with 36 per cent aged from 36-45 years and 61 per cent aged over 45 years. About a third said they were farmers and employees, while another third were traders, 12 per cent worked for companies and 16 per cent were state officials. In all, 46 per cent had a bachelor's degree, 39 per cent had "less than" a bachelor's degree and 15 per cent had "more than" a bachelor's degree.

Of general eligible voters surveyed, 54 per cent were women, 35 per cent were aged not more than 35 years, 29 per cent were aged from 36-45 years, and 37 per cent were over 45 years. All up, 85 per cent had education lower than a bachelor's degree, while the remainder had a degree.

Some 34 per cent said they were farmers, about 33 per cent were traders, 11 per cent were company employees, 7 per cent state officials and 7.5 per cent housewives.

-- The Nation 2010-07-26

[otherstuff1957]

So 40% of the voters are waiting to see who the highest bidder is.

[jayjay0]

Not being Thai I don't really know how the system works. I had heard the villagers vote for who ever the head man tells them to vote for. Is This not the case. A friend told me the head man makes his decision on who would be the best man for Thailand on who gives him the most money. As I said these are just things I have heard. Can some one clarify this for me.

[rubl]

Not being Thai I don't really know how the system works. I had heard the villagers vote for who ever the head man tells them to vote for. Is This not the case. A friend told me the head man makes his decision on who would be the best man for Thailand on who gives him the most money. As I said these are just things I have heard. Can some one clarify this for me.

Historically (or traditionally) the headman would tell the villagers who to vote for, as he was told so himself. This may have been the 'natural order' of things without vote buying. When democracy started to kick in and voting became mandatory, vote buying ensure a proper continuation of the 'proper order of things'. With people becoming more and more educated and (hopefully) self-reliant the vote buying system may decrease in importance.

Find a (non-Thai) book on Thai history for more and better information.

[tig28]

Not being Thai I don't really know how the system works. I had heard the villagers vote for who ever the head man tells them to vote for. Is This not the case. A friend told me the head man makes his decision on who would be the best man for Thailand on who gives him the most money. As I said these are just things I have heard. Can some one clarify this for me.

Historically (or traditionally) the headman would tell the villagers who to vote for, as he was told so himself. This may have been the 'natural order' of things without vote buying. When democracy started to kick in and voting became mandatory, vote buying ensure a proper continuation of the 'proper order of things'. With people becoming more and more educated and (hopefully) self-reliant the vote buying system may decrease in importance.

Find a (non-Thai) book on Thai history for more and better information.

Just why any villagers would "vote as the headman tells them" escapes me.

This is a genuine question--- why would they?

The Puai Baan (headman) is simply one of the villagers -- he is elected to the job by those villagers. He is un-elected when he does not perform. For some reason a few seem to imagine he automatically achieves some magical dominating power once he is elected . From what I have observed first hand ... this is a very strange view.

In our village ----- where the position of Puai Baan has changed hands in 3 of the last 4 elections --- it seems he cannot even get himself re-elected --- let alone command votes for some stranger trying to get to Bangkok.

[craigt3365]

The headman pays a fair amount of money to campaign for their election. Like hundreds of thousands of Baht. I've been to several of the election "parties". Great fun...free food and beer. Money is for sure handed out at various elections. But like my MIL does, pocket the money, tell them you are going to vote for them, then do what you really want to do....

But the promise of Thaksin to give every village 1MM Baht upon his return, is muddying the waters a bit....

[rubl]

The headman pays a fair amount of money to campaign for their election. Like hundreds of thousands of Baht. I've been to several of the election "parties". Great fun...free food and beer. Money is for sure handed out at various elections. But like my MIL does, pocket the money, tell them you are going to vote for them, then do what you really want to do....

But the promise of Thaksin to give every village 1MM Baht upon his return, is muddying the waters a bit....

Hope you don't mind this 'small' correction:

"But the promise of Thaksin to give every village 1MM Baht AGAIN upon his return, is muddying the waters a bit...."

[craigt3365]

The headman pays a fair amount of money to campaign for their election. Like hundreds of thousands of Baht. I've been to several of the election "parties". Great fun...free food and beer. Money is for sure handed out at various elections. But like my MIL does, pocket the money, tell them you are going to vote for them, then do what you really want to do....

But the promise of Thaksin to give every village 1MM Baht upon his return, is muddying the waters a bit....

Hope you don't mind this 'small' correction:

"But the promise of Thaksin to give every village 1MM Baht AGAIN upon his return, is muddying the waters a bit...."

Right on! Now we know why they are so loyal!

Edited July 26, 2010 by craigt3365