Prayut will sweep the South, but vote-buying is a threat, aide says
Despite opinion polls showing incumbent Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha stuck in third place among eligible voters, a close aide to the general claimed on Thursday that the general is poised to sweep the South.
“I’m confident that Prayut will score a landslide victory in the South,” said Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana, deputy leader of the United Thai Nation Party (UTNP).
Prayut is the party’s sole candidate for prime minister.
In the rest of Thailand, the election will be a close fight between the Pheu Thai Party and the UTNP, Thanakorn added, dismissing opinion polls.
“Opinion surveys are not election results,” Thanakorn said. “There is still a large group of people who have not made up their minds.”
The most recent poll by the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida) found that Pheu Thai’s main rival is the Move Forward Party. Pheu Thai is the preferred party in constituency elections, with 38.32% support. Move Forward is in second place with 33.96% support.
United Thai Nation remains a distant third, with 12.08% support, according to the results of the Nida poll released on Wednesday.
According to the Nida poll, 3% of the 2,500 eligible voters it surveyed late last month have yet to decide their preferred candidate for prime minister.
“The silent majority wants to see the country move ahead peacefully with security and sustainability,” he said, adding: “They will vote to allow Prayut to continue running the country to make it peaceful and to allow the people to live their daily lives with convenience and without conflict.”
Prayut is receiving an enthusiastic response while campaigning in the region, particularly in Trang, Phatthalung, Songkhla, and Surat Thani provinces, Thanakorn said.
“When he visits a village with 100 houses, 99 families come out to display the UTNP”s number 22,” Thanakorn explained, referring to the party’s ballot number.
“He is very popular in the southern region indeed,” he added.
Prayut is popular in the region because his government has spent almost 300 billion baht to develop it during the past four years, Thanakorn said. The Prayut government has built roads and other basic infrastructure in the region, he explained.
The UTNP does face a hurdle in the South.
Thanakorn said his party had detected massive vote-buying in the region and it wants the Election Commission to investigate this.
