Poll: Most respondents would elect Bangkok governor on policies

BANGKOK, January 27 (TNA) - With only five weeks away for the election of new Bangkok governor, a latest survey showed that most respondents would cast their votes on policies of candidates contesting the upcoming gubernatorial election, set on March 3, 2013. According to the survey, conducted by Rajabha t Suan Dusit Univeristy on 1,139 Bangkokians from January 20-25, about 46.20 per cent of the respondents said they would cast votes on policies given by the candidates or political parties during their campaign, 17.74 per cent on honesty, 13.91 per cent on the candidates’ past experiences and 12.47 per cent on the candidates’ past achievements. The Suan Dusit Poll also found that 35.04 per cent of the respondents wanted the candidates to speak only the truth, 21.56 per cent wanted the capital to advance in every aspect, 19.13 per cent were eager to see a clean election and 12.38 per cent demanded the newly-elected Bangkok governor to focus on further developing the city. But the survey found that only 9.68 per cent of the respondents said they were eager to go to exercise their rights in the March 3 gubernatorial election. As traffic congestion remains a tough problem of the capital, another recent survey conducted by the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), known as the NIDA Poll, showed that as many as 65.73 per cent of respondents viewed the heavy traffic has resulted from people's buying of new cars, boosted by the government’s policy on a tax rebate of 100,000 baht for each first-time car buyer. (TNA)