Most Thais oppose plan for Pheu Thai-military coalition government, poll shows

About 64 per cent of 1,310 respondents disagreed or totally disagreed with the idea of the Pheu Thai party forming a ‘special government’ with military-backed rivals

Pheu Thai’s Paetongtarn Shinawatra apologised that the party had failed to keep its election pledge of not joining with pro-military parties

Reading Time:2 minutes

Thai democracy supporters protest in Bangkok earlier this month to condemn Pheu Thai party after it announced that it would form a coalition government that does not include the election winner of the Move Forward Party. Photo: dpa

Published: 11:15pm, 20 Aug 2023

Most Thais disagree with the leading plan for a coalition government which includes military-backed groups, an opinion poll showed on Sunday, two days before a parliamentary vote aiming to end a three-month political stalemate.

About 64 per cent of 1,310 respondents disagreed or totally disagreed with the idea of the Pheu Thai party forming a “special government” with military-backed rivals, according to the survey by the National Institute of Development Administration.

Thailand has been under a caretaker government for five months and faces prolonged uncertainty after the winner of the May election, Move Forward, was blocked from forming a government by conservative legislators allied with the royalist military.

Pheu Thai’s prime ministerial candidates Paetongtarn Shinawatra (right) and Srettha Thavisin in Bangkok, Thailand in May. Photo: EPA-EFE

The second-place Pheu Thai, founded by the family of self-exiled billionaire former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, this month took over efforts to form a government.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thaksin’s daughter and one of three prime ministerial candidates of Pheu Thai, on Sunday apologised that the party had failed to keep its election pledge of not joining with pro-military parties.

“We have to make adjustments to keep the country going,” she told reporters. “Of course, Pheu Thai has the price to pay, that is the criticism of the people. We humbly accept and apologise for making many disappointed and sad.”

The party would work fully to solve the country’s problems if it could form a government, Paetongtarn added.