Survey:People call for careful consideration on appointed Thai senators

BANGKOK, March 21 (TNA) - A recent opinion poll has shown that people want authorities to carefully consider an idea of having the wholly appointed Thai Senate of 250 members. The survey on 1,207 samples nationwide on the random basis, conducted by Bangkok-based Suan Dusit Rajabhat University during March 16-19, found that 76.14 per cent of the respondents said they want authorities to consider carefully the proposal of the army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to have the entire 250 appointed Thai senators, from the earlier proposed 200 ones. The so-called Suan Dusit poll also found that 68.77 per cent of the respondents would like to see Thai senators to be honest and refrain from prolonging the power of the incumbent military government, while 57.50 per cent demanded that people take part in the making of the Senate. Regarding an idea to have two ballots for each voter to vote for constituency MPs and list MPs, 70.1 per cent of the respondents wanted to know the pros and cons and have voting conveniences, 61.23 per cent wanted to reduce the power of big political parties and 60.65 per cent thought smaller political parties could win more seats in the House of Representatives. Thailand's new Constitution draft would allow three MPs in each constituency and each voter would vote for only one candidate, while there would be 350 constituency MPs and 150 list MPs. Regarding an idea that Thai political parties would not nominate their prime minister candidates beforehand, 74.23 per cent of respondents said prior nomination would influence their voting decisions, 71.67 per cent opined that the prior nomination could create conflicts and 59.49 per cent thought that a non-elected individual would have a chance to become the next Thai prime minister. (TNA)