Bangkok (VNA) – Thai Prime Minister PrayuthChan-ocha is narrowing his popularity gap with a Prime Minister candidate, 36-year-old Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of former Prime Minister ThaksinShinawatra, according to a poll conducted by National Institute of DevelopmentAdministration (NIDA).
Out of the 1,571 people across Thailand who answered the poll onFebruary 17 and 18, 28.5% support Paetongtarn while 25.7% support Prayuth.
Notably, the number of people supporting Prayuth has increasedsignificantly compared to the result of another NIDA’s poll last September.At that time, the popularity rate of the incumbent Thai Prime Minister was lessthan half that of Paetongtarn.
Prayuth has an advantage over Paetongtarn in Bangkok, withone-third of respondents supporting him to stay in power, while the rate ofsupport for former Prime Minister Thaksin's daughter is 21.3%.
However, in other areas, Paetongtarn's support rating was 29.9%while Prayuth’s rating is 24.3%.
Thailand's election, scheduled to take place in May, will be afierce competition between Paetongtarn's Pheu Thai party and the current rulingcoalition./.