Around 62% of people think the voting base and popularity of Pheu Thai party would shrink after Yingluck Shinawatra failed to appear in court to hear the ruling on its rice-pledging programme on Aug 25, an opinion survey has found.
Suan Dusit Poll, conducted on 1,271 people between Aug 26 and Sept 1, also found 68% of the respondents thought the party had lost its leader and a new one had to be found while 52% did not think her disappearance would affect the party since she was already a nominee and other party members should be able to run the party after she left.
On what they thought of her disappearance, 87.9% believed the former prime minister feared being punished -- the court would not grant her bail and she would be imprisoned.
Some 76.6% viewed she did so because she was not confident in the judicial process and the laws had double standards while 64.7% believed she was afraid there might be unrest and clashes.
On what they thought of her disappearance, 71.2% viewed it had become a hot political issue, while 67.5% would like to see her fight the case by law.
Some 57.8% felt unstable politics would affect the country's image while 49.6% viewed all sides should wait for the ruling on Sept 27.
