A majority of people aged 40 and over expect to see improvement in the economy after the next election tentatively scheduled for Feb 24, 2019, according to an opinion survey conducted by the National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll. The poll was conducted on Dec 11-12 on people aged 40 and above of various levels of education and occupations throughout the country. Asked for their expectations from the forthcoming election, a majority - 62.64% - said they expect the country's overall economic situation to improve; 10.16% expect the country to become democratic; 8.80% expect to see more occupational training and lower unemployment; 6.00% expect higher-quality education; 5.68% expect Thailand's image to improve in the eyes of the international community; 3.28% expect to see improvement in the quality of life and safety levels; 2.48% expect more equal distribution of state welfare and services; 0.16% expect improvement in basic infrastructure; 0.56% said they expect nothing from the election; and the rest were uncertain or had no comment. Asked what policies they want to see from political parties taking part in the election, a large majority - 72.56% - want them to solve economic problems and household debt; 37.60% to control goods prices and reduce monopolies; 30.16% to prevent corruption and misuse of power; 27.44% to solve the problems of drugs and crime; 19.60% to raise educational standards; 15.20% to distribute wealth and growth evenly to all regions; 14.96% to ensure health and medical services for the people; and 11.12% to reduce the social gap between the rich and the poor. Asked to name the issues most unacceptable to them, 47.76% mentioned an economic slump; 16.24% corruption and prevalence of "dark influences"; 11.52% political conflicts among people in the country; 10.88% social disparities; 4.56% low-quality education; 4.08% a military coup; 3.76% not having an election; 1.12% not having rights and freedom of expression; and 0.08% had no comment.

Source: Bangkok Post December 23, 2018 04:07 UTC