A majority of people say they want the government and the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to lift the ban on political activities, imposed since after the the May 22, 2014 coup, so that political parties can prepare for an election, according to the result of an opinion survey by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, or Suan Dusit Poll. The poll was conducted between Oct 31-Nov 4 on 1,289 people throughout the country to compile opinions on calls by political parties for the political ban to be lifted to allow political activities ahead of the poll after Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said there would certainly be an election in late 2018. Asked whether it is now time for the political ban to be lifted, a majority, 65.71% said "yes", reasoning that this would allow political parties to prepare for the election and the people would get enough information to decide who to vote for. However, 34.83% said it is not yet time for political activities as there are still conflicts between political parties. They said political parties should wait until the election date has been set and that the ban should be lifted six months before the election.

Source: Bangkok Post November 05, 2017 03:56 UTC