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Published on December 13, 2007

The closer the election gets the further the People Power Party (PPP) appears to pull away from the Democrats in the battle for Bangkok MP seats, according to a poll released by Ramkhamhaeng University yesterday.

It said that People Power was expected to win 23 of the 36 seats, leaving just 13 for the Democrats.

However, Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva still remained the candidate that 40 per cent of respondents wanted as the new prime minister.

PPP leader Samak Sundaravej followed quite close at 34 per cent.

No other party leader won more than 5 per cent support from respondents for the post of prime minister.

The survey was conducted from December 8 to 11 among 4,653 eligible voters in Bangkok.

Almost 90 per cent of respondents said they planned to vote, while 6 per cent said they had not decided who they would back. Just under 2 per cent said they would not vote, and 2.3 per cent did not reply.

When asked about their favourite political party for proportionate MP candidates in Zone 6, 42 per cent said they preferred People Power, 37 per cent said they preferred the Democrats, while the remainder said they would opt for other parties. No other party was favoured by more than 4 per cent of respondents.

Zone 6 includes Bangkok, Nonthaburi and Samut Prakan.

When asked to name the parties of their three most favourite candidates in their constituency, candidates from PPP won 23 seats - while the Democrats won 13 seats.

PPP candidates were leading in Constituencies 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11 and 12, while Democrats were leading in Constituencies 1, 3, 7 and 8. Popularity of the candidates from the two parties were close in Constituency 2.

PPP candidates received 33-36 per cent of support while the Democrats received 29-30 per cent in Constituency 2.

The constituencies where all three Democrat candidates received the most votes from the respondents were Constituency 1, Constituency 3 and Constituency 7.

The other four seats for the Democrats were in constituencies 6, 8 and 11.

The first poll by Ramkhamhaeng University conducted in mid-November found that 47 per cent of the respondents opted for the Democrats, while 21 per cent went for the PPP.

 The Nation