Wrap-up for foreign press and foreigners by Chitpas Bhirombhakdi (ตั๊น จิตภัสร์ ภิรมย์ภักดี)
– NIDA (National Institute of Development Administration) poll: 47% of 1254 respondents all over Thailand believe that the political crisis would continue if elections are held on 2 Feb. 2013; 46% support reform before elections.
– The Dept. of Special Investigations (DSI) brought additional sedition charges against protest and rally leaders today in defiance of the Constitutional Court’s ruling that the protests were protected under the Constitution.
– Suthep Thaugsuban thanked all his supporters for joining his 10-hour march today. The DSI’s freezing of protest leader accounts inspired more donations than ever – we received over Baht 7 million from today’s march towards Rajdamnoen kitchen.
– Suthep stressed that there would be no negotiating with crooks and the Thaksin regime.
– We’ve provided information on the Sunday rally on our websites, including: this page (People’s Democratic Reform Committee – PDRC),เวทีราชดำเนิน, and spokesperson Akanat Promphan’s page (เอกนัฏ พร้อมพันธุ์).
The forecast of trouble ahead was a result of its survey conducted from December 17-19 on a total of 1,254 people across the country for their opinions on the upcoming February 2 election.
The poll reveals that 55.34% of people asked think the coming election will not run smoothly because it will be obstructed and derailed by protesters. But 32.70% said the election will not be affected. The rest has no comment.
On the questions of how fair and transparent the election will be if compared to previous elections, 28.79% said it will be less fair while 21.13% said it will be least fair election to date. However 28.63% said it will be fairer, and 8.29% said it will be the fairest election.
Asked about the political situation after the election, 47.21% said they believed political unrest will continue while 21.85% said conflict will widen, and 20.33% was optimistic with thought that it will improve.
On which will come first between election and national reform, 46.33% said national reform should come first, while 36.28% favored the election. Only 4.31% said both national reform and election should be carried out in parallel.
democracy for burma 