Most voters to cast ballots in Thailand's new general election

BANGKOK, March 6 (TNA) - A latest survey has found that the majority of eligible voters will turn out to cast their ballots in Thailand's new general election later this month. Professor Woothisarn Tanchai, Secretary-General of the King Prajadhipok’s Institute (KPI), told journalists on March 5 that the KPI's random survey recently, the 4th of its kind conducted during February 28-March 1, found that 95.8 per cent of respondents nationwide would exercise their right in Thailand's new general election, set on March 24, a rising trend since the first survey conducted some months ago. For their desirable new Thai prime minister after the upcoming national poll, the KPI chief told journalists that up to 99.6 per cent of a total of 1,540 respondents in all Thai regions said they wanted a newly-elected premier with integrity and transparency, followed by devotion to people and the nation, while most of the nationwide respondents paid the least attention to the communication skills and political experiences of their newly-elected government leader. Like the desirable qualifications of a newly-elected premier, the KPI chief said that most of the respondents wanted constituency-based members of parliament (MPs) who are clean-handed with morality, followed by those with sound visions, advanced ideas and practicality in addressing problems in their constituencies no matter what genders or personalities they are. For Thai political parties contesting in the upcoming national poll, the KPI chief revealed that most of the respondents would indepedently consider their policies as the most important factor, followed by their leaders no matter whether they are wellknown or not. (TNA)