Thai Govt Fails In Job-Approval Ratings : Poll

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Govt fails in job-approval ratings : poll

By The Nation

The Abhisit government has failed in the job-approval ratings, scoring only 4.61 out of 10 for its two years of administration, according to Krunthep Poll results released yesterday.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva himself narrowly passed the test with 5.17 out of 10.

The poll was conducted on 1,298 respondents on Friday and Saturday after the PM announced his government's achievements. Abhisit's scores after announcing the government's achievements were 0.73 higher than before the announcement was made.

Of the respondents, 55.8 per cent became aware of the government's achievements through several media. Those who watched the live broadcast of Abhisit's announcement gave his administration a score of 6.27.

The most popular project carried out by the government is the 15-year free education, followed by the old-age pension and the project to reduce the cost of living for the public.

The ruling Democrat Party scored 5 while other coalition parties earned 3.89 and the opposition Pheu Thai Party scored 3.75.

Pheu Thai Party spokesman Prompong Noparit dismissed a claim by the Democrat Party that it had helped more than 500,000 people tide over their loan-shark debt problem. He said he had checked and found that only 50,000 people were helped.

He said the government should not make up figures only to project its image because the public's debt burden would snowball into a big national problem.

The Democrat Party's Bangkok MP, Sansern Samalapa, clarified doubts raised by investors, traders and economists that the country was not see rising investment as claimed. He reasoned that the country was not in a normal state as political rallies had plunged the country into chaos and damaged the business and investment climate.

He insisted that the government has been able to distribute income and had reduced the number of poor by 500,000 people per year, according to the survey by the National Economic Social Development Board. The survey showed that the income gap between the rich and the poor had dropped to 11.3 times in 2009 from 12.5 times in 2008. The survey showed that the number of poor in 2008 was 5.8 million people, while in 2009 there were 5.3 million poor people.

-- The Nation 2010-12-27

[ChiangMaiFun]

Not a great surprise... welcome election time soon! - but get international mods in to ensure fair play