People worried constitutional amendment may cause conflicts: Dusit Poll

BANGKOK, Feb 26 - A plurality of poll respondents, or 38 per cent are afraid constitutional amendment may result in conflicts among many parties, according to the Suan Dusit Poll, conducted on Saturday.

After a joint session of Thai Parliament, debating a proposed constitutional amendment on Feb 23-24, Suan Dusit Rajabhat University conducted an opinion survey among 741 people regarding the debate.

According to the poll, the largest percentage, or 38.88 percent of respondents, were afraid this contentious issue may bring about rifts among many parties with differing opinions, while 22.57 percent said they will keep monitoring the political situation and hoped the revision of constitution will benefit the majority rather than any individual.

Meanwhile, 48.11 percent said they were uncertain if the constitution should be amended because they did not have adequate or clear about it.

About 27 percent of those surveyed said it should not be revised due to concerns over disturbances and disorder in the country, whereas 24.3 percent thought that changes should be done to improve Thai politics and the nation.

The poll revealed that 43.57 percent of the respondents believed that the charter amendment will significantly affect Thai politics because it might lead to conflict while 38.92 percent said it will have a tremendous impact on the politics due to strong disagreement.

The joint parliamentary session of House of Representatives and Senate late on Friday voted in support of three bills seeking to amend the Constitution as the government's version would be the main draft for consideration by the vetting committee.

All three drafts proposed the amendment of only Section 291 of the 2007 Constitution, each seeking to set up a Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA), but with differing numbers of members and different selection processes.

After the vote, a 45-member vetting committee was appointed to prepare for the next readings of the amendment bills. The panel consists of 10 senators and 35 MPs and would complete its work within 30 days after next Wednesday. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-02-26

I'm surprised at these poll results with people thinking there may be conflicts and differing opinions among the various political parties. Gosh, no one wants that. Political parties should always agree and think alike---that's how it happens in other countries (or not!!!!).