(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Some people in Thailand’s main metropolitan area think a new legislative ballot should take place in order to end a political stalemate, according to a poll by Suan Dusit University. 28.44 per cent of respondents in Bangkok believe the House of Representatives should be dissolved and the prime minister should call for a snap election.

Additionally, 25.12 per cent of respondents think the cabinet should be re-shuffled, but no election should take place, while 17.54 per cent believe the members of the cabinet should resign en masse and allow a new group to form the government.

Fewer respondents voice support for conflicting parties to negotiate with each other or return to some earlier understanding, for the minor coalition parties to withdraw from the administration and join with the opposition Democratic Party (PP) to set up a new government, and for the military to stage a coup.

After two years of political instability—which included the dissolution of the lower house, a cancelled national election, a military coup, and the enactment of a new constitution—Thailand held a legislative ballot in December 2007. Final results gave the People’s Power Party (PPP) 232 of the 480 seats at stake, followed by the PP with 165 mandates. In January 2008, PPP leader Samak Sundaravej became prime minister.

Since May, several demonstrations demanding that Samak and his government resign have taken place in Bangkok. Critics say that former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra—who was toppled in the 2006 military coup—is the person who is actually governing Thailand.

On Jul. 10, the Thai Constitutional Court ruled that foreign minister Noppadon Pattama acted unconstitutionally when he endorsed Cambodia’s bid to register its Preah Vihear temple as a UNESCO World Heritage Site without first consulting legislators on the matter. Thailand has pending claims over land located close to the temple, and the Court considered the minister’s actions as harmful to the process.

Noppadon stepped down, saying, "Even though I did not do anything wrong, I would like to show responsibility by resigning. (...) I would like to insist that the action of the ministry did not compromise Thailand’s sovereignty."

Polling Data

What would be the best way to solve Thailand’s political situation?

Source: Suan Dusit University
Methodology: Interviews with 1,266 Thai adults in metropolitan Bangkok and provincial areas, conducted on Jul. 8 to Jul. 9, 2008. No margin of error was provided.

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