The Interior Ministry has given updates on public responses to the premier’s questions since Monday. It has collected the responses from its Damrongtham centres nationwide.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha asked the questions during his weekly TV programme on Friday a few weeks ago, stirring up public debate on whether this was to gauge public opinion on his popularity ahead of the coming election.

He asked:

# Do you think the next election will give Thailand a government with good governance?

# If that is not the case, what will you do?

# Elections are an integral part of democracy but are elections without regard for the country’s future right or wrong?

# Do you think bad politicians should be given the chance to return to politics – and if conflict re-emerges, who will solve it and by what means?

Despite heavy debate among concerned parties, including several veteran politicians, the turn-out of people providing responses was quite low on the first day.

Prayut said in response to the low turn-out that he did not have high expectations in regard to his four questions – he simply wanted to sound out people’s thoughts.

“I do not expect everyone to answer the questions. It’s not a big deal. I just want to hear what people say,” Prayut said.

According to the ministry, Khon Kaen in the Northeast has seen the highest number of people responding, with around 7,400 replying to the premier’s questions. The lowest has been Samut Sakhon province, with only 35 people having given answers.