Most people support 'run against Prayut': Poll

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha

A narrow majority of Thais support the run to seek Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha's ouster, with a higher proportion supporting the upcoming "Wing Lai Lung" than the rival event to show support for the prime minister, according to an opinion survey by the National Institute for Development Administration, or Nida Poll.

The poll was conducted on Dec 23-24 on 1,258 people aged 18 and over of various levels of education and occupations throughout the country to gauge their opinions on the two events, both tentatively set to be held on Jan 12.

The first event is the "Wing Lai Lung" run or the run to seek Gen Prayut's ouster, organised by anti-military students. The other is the "Dern Wing Cheer Lung" event organised by a group of people to show support for the prime minister.

The organisers have sought police permission to hold the two events - the first at Thammasat University and the other at Lumpini Park.

In the poll, the respondents were asked to give their opinions on the two events.

On the "Wing Lai Lung" event, 53.10% of the respondents voiced support for it - with 40.86% giving strong support for it and 12.24% showing moderate support. On the other side, 43.32% were against it - with 31.32% voicing strong opposition and 12.00% showing moderate opposition. The rest, 3.58%, had no comment or were not interested.

On the "Dern Wing Cheer Lung" event, 67.41% of the respondents said they were against it - with 49.76% showing strong opposition and 17.65% moderately opposed. On the other side, 18.92% said they somewhat supported it and 9.30% gave it all-out support. The rest, 4.37%, had no comment or were not interested.

Asked whether they were concerned there would be political conflicts in 2020 similar to those in the past, 22.81% said "yes" but believed the conflicts would not be as serious; 21.86% believed the conflicts would be at the same level as before; 21.62% thought the conflicts would be more violent; 13.04% were little concerned over this matter; 19.00% were not concerned at all; and 1.67% had no answer or were not interested.