A majority of people have found the Supreme Court’s ruling against former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra came as no surprise and will moderately affect the political scene, according to an opinion survey.
A Dusit Poll survey on the impacts of the five-year jail term on the former prime minister in the rice-pledging case was conducted on 1,087 people nationwide between Thursday, the ruling date, and Friday. The results were released on Saturday.
To the multiple-choice question what they thought about the five-year jail term, 67% of the respondents say the ruling is in line with their expectations.
Some 64.4% also believe it will affect the political situation while 61.8% think the case should serve as a lesson for all politicians.
Some 56.9% urges all to apply caution when following news and information while 55.2% wants to see prosecution of other shady projects.
On whether the ruling will affect reconciliation, 32.8% say it would have a moderate effect because Yingluck’s Pheu Thai is a large party with a lot of supporters and political cooperation might be impeded.
Another 24.2% foresee a considerable impact because the existing polarisation will escalate as those who disagree with the ruling will think she has not been treated fairly.
Some 21.9% see little impact because the government is in full control and as a personal issue, it should not affect national reconciliation.
The remaining 21.1% foresee no impact at all because people want peace and reconciliation and most are able to separate personal and national issues.
To the question whether the ruling will affect politics, 36.7% think it will have a moderate effect because it is a debatable issue that can lead to political change. Another 27.1% think the impact was substantial while the remaining 19.69% see little impact because of the government’s unchallenged authority.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions read its ruling on a case in which Yingluck was accused of neglecting her duty in handling the rice-pledging programme. She was given an unsuspended five-year jail term.
The court found her guilty because she had failed to stop the illegitimate government-to-government rice sales in which Boonsong Teriyapirom, her commerce minister, had been sentenced to 42 years in prison on Aug 25.
Yingluck failed to appear in court for the ruling originally scheduled on Monday. She has never been seen in Thailand since and there are reports she had been in Dubai and, later, London.
