About 79% of Thais feel confused about the upcoming election and referendums, which involve four separate ballots covering six questions, says a survey by the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida).
The poll, conducted from Oct 7-9 among 1,310 adults nationwide, highlighted widespread uncertainty over navigating the electoral process, particularly the votes on the four ballots covering six questions in the upcoming election.
The first ballot is for constituency MPs. The second ballot for party-list MPs. The third one is for the constitutional amendment referendum with two questions.
The fourth ballot is for the referendum on the fate of the Memorandums of Understanding that Thailand signed with Cambodia over overlapping land and maritime boundaries in 2000 and 2001 (MoU 43 and MoU 44). This ballot will also have two questions.
The survey found 79.16% of respondents reported feeling confused about the ballots and questions, including 48.55% who said they were very confused and 30.61% somewhat confused.
In contrast, the remaining 20.84% said they were not confused, including 11.99% who said they were not confused at all, and 8.85% said they were not confused.
When asked about their personal ability to handle the ballots, about half said they were confused, including 26.8% who were very confused and 23.36% who were somewhat confused.
The remaining half said they were not confused, including 34.73% who were not confused at all and 15.11% who were not confused.
The survey also questioned whether the four-month preparation period announced by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s government would be sufficient to educate voters.
About half said it would not be sufficient, of which 30.23% of respondents said the time was ‘not sufficient at all’ and 20.53% said somewhat sufficient.
A further 46.57% said it would be sufficient, including 24.43% who said the time is ‘definitely sufficient” and 22.14% said the time is somewhat sufficient. The remaining 2.67% did not respond or were not interested.
Finally, when asked for opinions on holding the MP election, the constitutional amendment referendum, and the MoUs 43 and 44 cancellation referendum on the same day, 49.16% said they agreed with holding all on the same day.
A little over a quarter, or 26.11%, said the three processes should be held on separate days while 12.60% said only the MP election should be separated.
Meanwhile, 5.42% said only the MoU cancellation referendum should be separated, and 2.82% said only the constitutional amendment referendum should be held separately.