Bangkok Post : No.1 goal: Pheu Thai will work for the people
No.1 goal: Pheu Thai will work for the people
Tackling problems affecting the people will be the Pheu Thai Party's first priority if it assumes power after the election, says the party's No.1 list candidate, Yingluck Shinawatra.
- Published: 14/06/2011 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: News
Ms Yingluck yesterday said that the people would come first and not issuing a blanket amnesty for individuals that had been convicted of political offences to clear the way for her brother, deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, to return to Thailand, as the Democrat Party has suggested.
She said that her decision to enter the election was driven by determination to serve the people and prioritise which of their problems should be tackled first.
"I've been saying at every election campaign rally that our first order of business is to solve the people's problems. The media have been covering my campaign and should have heard it," she said.
The Democrat Party has zeroed in on how the amnesty plan would serve Thaksin and claimed the former prime minister has a four-step strategy to return to power.
Ms Yingluck also played down Thaksin's remarks that she was his clone.
"I think it is about ideas and management style, not decision-making," she said.
Ms Yingluck was referring to Thaksin's interview during which her brother said that she was not his nominee in the election.
She said that she was happy with the findings of an opinion poll which showed Pheu Thai had a clear lead over the Democrats in Bangkok.
"Even though there are 20 days to go and the findings reflect opinions [rather than results], I am glad that our party is welcomed by Bangkok voters," she said.
Meanwhile, an internal popularity poll by the Pheu Thai Party has suggested that its candidates are trailing in 150 constituencies, or about 40% of total constituencies, a party source said.
The poll was conducted by a private firm which commissioned an opinion survey for the now-dissolved Thai Rak Thai party, said the source.
The southern region is where Pheu Thai seems to be the least popular.
According to the source, Ms Yingluck has been advised to help campaign for the candidates who still have a chance of winning.
Ms Yingluck is making a second visit to the northern region, where she will be helping the candidates' campaigns in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lamphun and Lampang.
The party expects to win 55 seats out of 67 in the northern region - the same number it won in the previous election.
In Chiang Mai, which is considered a Pheu Thai stronghold, the party faces a fierce contest in Constituency 5, where Pheu Thai's Prasit Wutnanchai is pitted against Chart Thai Pattana's Krai Daptham, who defected from Ruam Jai Thai Pattana.
Constituency 10 is also delicate.
Norapol Tantimontri, who defected from Puea Pandin to the Democrat Party, may be the first Democrat to break ground in Chiang Mai after the party failed to win a single seat in this northern province in the last election, which was held in 2007.