PM downplayed King Prajadhipok’s Institute survey

BANGKOK, Sept 9 (TNA) -- Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-ocha has downplayed the poll results conducted by King Prajadhipok’s Institute which showed his popularity was behind ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, now living in self-exiled in oversea, said a spokesman of the Prime Minister’s Office. Spokesman Lieutenant General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the prime minister was neither interest nor unhappy with the poll results, but asked the public not to be confused by thinking that doing illegal things or even corruption are “accepted” in the country. The survey by King Prajadhipok’s Institute on 33,420 people asked respondents to indicate their confidence in government leaders from 2002 to 2017. Mr Thaksin topped the vote by scoring 93 per cent in 2003 but dropped to 77.2 per cent in 2006. Prime Minister Gen Prayut ranked number 2 with 87.5 per cent approval in 2015, a year after he staged a coup against Yingluck Shinawatra, a younger sister of Mr Thaksin. The survey showed his popularity declined to 84.6 per cent in 2016. Ms Yingluck, who failed to turn up at a court hearing against her late last month and is now believed to have fled abroad, came third, scoring 69.9 per cent in 2013 and 63.4 per cent in 2014. Lt Gen Sansern said Prime Minister Gen Prayut believed that disclosing certain information to the public must use extreme caution because it could create social divisiveness. The prime minister also asked the people to study information carefully, and not reading headlines from newspapers only, said Lt Gen Sansern. He also elaborated that the institution had explained later that its poll did not many any comparison of public confidence on prime ministers in the past and in actual practice a comparison could “not be made because incidents took place at different times.” Also, King Prajadhipok’s Institute explained that the poll also showed information of other ex-prime ministers, and not just only two of them, according to Lt Gen Sansern. (TNA)