More than 60 per cent of the 1,629 respondents in and around the capital said they believed both were behind the scam, according to results of Assumption University's Abac Poll released yesterday.

About 24 per cent of those surveyed on Monday and Tuesday said they believed Thai Rak Thai alone had hired parties to contest the election in order to avoid the 20-per-cent rule.

A further 13 per cent said they believed the Democrats hired smaller parties to void the election.

The popularity of the two parties also dropped. The number of respondents who said they would vote for Thai Rak Thai dropped from 42.1 per cent last week to 28 per cent. Those who said they would vote for the Democrats dropped from 16.5 to 10.3 per cent.

However, 60.6 per cent said they were yet to decide who to vote for while 1.1 per cent said they would vote for other parties such as Chat Thai and Mahachon.

About 53 per cent of respondents said the political parties involved in hiring small parties to contest the April 2 election should be dissolved, while about 13 per cent disagreed.

The results showed 40.5 per cent of respondents believed the image of the Election Commission would improve if the commissioners resigned.

Seventy per cent said the former opposition parties should contest the new election, while only 4.3 per cent said they should not.

Director of the poll, Noppadon Kannika, said the drop in popularity of Thai Rak Thai and Democrat Party might lead to a coalition government after the election.