THAIS are split over whether the National Council for Peace and Order should be allowed to stay on following the next general election, a survey has found.

About 48 per cent of respondents said the NCPO should be retained in order to prevent more political conflicts.

Almost the same number disagreed, arguing that an elected government should be allowed to work freely. The remaining 4 per cent were “unsure”.

Most respondents, 89 per cent, called on the government to inform the public in advance on what to do if the draft constitution fails to pass in the national referendum in July so voters could consider the information while 7 per cent saw no need for that.

The poll, “The Constitution Draft in the Eyes of People”, was conducted by Bangkok University’s Research Centre on 1,159 people in all four regions of the country.

About 45 per cent of those surveyed said they would vote in support of the draft constitution, compared to 16 per cent who would vote “no” and 28 per cent who would abstain. The remaining 11 per cent said they were unsure.

Asked whether they agree with the Senate having the proposed additional role of supervising the national strategy plan instead of the job resting with the proposed national strategy committee, 51 per cent disagreed, 32 per cent agreed and 15 per cent were unsure.

Asked whether the draft is democratic, 45 per cent answered yes, 36 per cent answered no and 18 per cent were unsure.

Regarding the public’s knowledge of the draft constitution, 88 per cent said they knew little about it and 11 per cent said they knew it well.

Asked to what extent the junta allows the public to express their opinion on the charter draft, almost 45 per cent said “much to most”, 44 per cent said “little to least”, and 10 per cent could not say for sure.