Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan has emerged ahead of Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the youngest daughter of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and other potential rivals for the post of prime minister to tackle the country’s economic problems, according to E-Saan Poll.
The E-Saan Centre for Business and Economic Research (ECBER) of Khon Kaen University based its results on a survey of 1,065 respondents aged 18 and over across 20 provinces in the Northeast.
The survey aimed to gauge the opinions of northeastern people about economic problems that concerned them, so that their views would be passed to state agencies or political parties to address, said Suthin Wianwiwat, head of the E-Saan Poll.
The poll also sought respondents’ views about their choices of prime minister and political parties to tackle economic problems.
Khunying Sudarat, 61, the leader of the Thai Sang Thai Party, was the first choice for prime minister, named by 23.4% of respondents.
Ms Paetongtarn, 36, chief of the inclusion and innovation advisory committee of the Pheu Thai Party, came second with 21.1%. She was followed by Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat with 20.2%; Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, temporarily suspended from the premiership pending a Constitutional Court ruling on his tenure, with 12.5%; and Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul with 9.9%.
Asked which party they would vote for today to solve economic problems, 35.9% of respondents named Pheu Thai, followed by Move Forward Party (19.8%), Thai Sang Thai (14.7%), Palang Pracharath (12.6%), Bhumjaithai (10.7%), Democrat Party (3.1%), Seri Ruam Thai (1.9%) and other parties (1.4%).
Asked to name economic issues that caused them stress, respondents could give more than one answer: 62.4% mentioned the rising cost of living and soaring prices of raw materials; 56.9% high energy prices; 42.5% falling income and a struggle to make ends meet; 37.1% failure to pay monthly instalments to lenders; 33.8% unemployment; 32.2% losses from farming and agricultural work; 31.9% a shortage of money or loans and other issues.
Khunying Sudarat co-founded the Thai Rak Thai Party with Thaksin more than two decades ago but has not been associated with its successor parties for several years. On Friday she was officially named leader of Thai Sang Thai. She declared that she is ready for the role of prime minister and vowed to push for “a people’s constitution”.
Ms Paetongtarn has been building a high profile in recent months, leading numerous rallies for the “Pheu Thai family”, but it is not yet known who the party intends to propose for prime minister.
