By Thai Newsroom Reporters
EIGHTY-FOUR PERCENT of respondents to a recent poll said they would resolutely vote for the brand-new People’s Party if they were about to cast ballots in a general election tomorrow.
Of a total of about 51,000 people who responded in the latest poll via Matichon’s YouTube channel to the question of which specific party they would support if the election was held tomorrow, 84% of the respondents said they would decidedly vote for the People’s, a resurrection of the court-dissolved Move Forward.
That compared to 9% of the respondents who said they would vote for the Pheu Thai under de facto party boss Thaksin Shinawatra whilst 4% said they would prefer other parties and 2% said they would pick the Bhumjaithai under de facto party boss Newin Chidchob. The Pheu Thai is core of the current coalition government of which the Bhumjaithai is the second largest coalition partner.
The Matichon online poll was conducted shortly after Wednesday’s dissolution of the Move Forward at the unanimous order of the Constitutional Court on contentious rule-undermining charges pertaining to the reformist party’s campaign-promised moves toward amendment to the draconian lese majeste law, also known as Section 112 of the Criminal Code.
In another development, more than 10 million baht in public cash donation for the People’s was reported in nine hours in a single day yesterday (Aug 9).
That total in cash donation reached the targeted amount set by the People’s which has registered all 143 MPs previously attached to the dissolved reformist party to maintain their MP status.
Besides, more than 19,000 people have registered themselves online as partisan members of the brand-new party in a single day yesterday against a targeted total of 100,000 registered members in a one-month period.
Meanwhile, Chulalongkorn University political scientist Puangthong Pawakapan remarked over the weekend that the Constitutional Court had obviously applied a distorted, double-standard judgement against the Move Forward to dissolve the reformist party on grounds of attempted rule-undermining charges.
The Constitutional Court had earlier chosen to shrug off on previous phenomena in which coup juntas headed by army chiefs had suddenly torn the constitutions and seized power from elected civilian governments which could have been otherwise judged as tantamount to an act of undermining rule as in the highly questionable case of the Move Forward, Puangthong pointed out.
That apparently referred to the 2006 coup staged by then-army chief Sonthi Boonyaratkalin and the 2014 coup staged by then-army chief-turned-prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Given the arbitrary verdict of all nine judges of the Constitutional Court which resulted in harsh penalties to the largest elected Move Forward, many, if not most, members of the public would almost certainly find it completely unacceptable, the political scientist commented.
According to the Chulalongkorn academic, the Constitutional Court has evidently served designs and interests of the powers-that-be who had decidedly intended to destroy such reformist camps and practically keep the people under control.
The Constitutional Court did not only dissolve the Move Forward but deprived all former and current members of the party’s executive board including former party leaders Pita Limjaroenrat and Chaithawat Tulathon of their MP status, if any, and prohibited them from assuming political positions at all levels for a 10-year period.
CAPTIONS:
People’s Party leader Natthapong Ruengpanyawut. Top photo: Naewna, Front Page photo: Thai Rath
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