Chadchart widens lead in race for Bangkok governor

Chadchart Sittipunt has gained more popularity among voters, who will drop the ballots in elections for a Bangkok governor and city councillors in less than two weeks.

Mr Chadchart, who is an independent candidate, received 72.35% of approval from eligible voters in a Nida Poll issued on Friday, up from 67.30% in the previous survey on June 2.

Mallika Boonmeetrakul Mahasuk, another independent, was in a distant second with 9.60%, a jump from 7.30%. She surpassed Chaiwat Sathawornwichit of the People's Party despite his slightly increased rating to 8.80% from 8.20%.

Democrat candidate Anucha Burapachaisri's popularity remained stable at 3.10% from the previous poll.

The gubernatorial election and city council elections will take place on June 28.

As polling day nears, the percentage of voters who have not made up their minds on the choice vastly dropped to 2.70% from 10.20%.

The poll by the National Institute of Development Administration asked 2,000 voters in all 50 districts from Monday to Wednesday.

The poll outcome was in the same direction as a KPI Poll, also released on Friday, which underlined the lead of Mr Chadchart.

The survey showed Mr Chadchart was also popular among voters joining the general election on Feb 8, which saw the People's Party sweeping all MP seats in the capital.

Though the People's Party dominated the national election, 45.4% of voters for the opposition party said in the KPI poll that they would vote for Mr Chadchart to be the governor for his second term, with 30.6% to vote for Mr Chaiwat.

Most voters who voted for the Pheu Thai and Bhumjaitai parties in the general election would also support Mr Chadchart, but most voters loyal to the Democrats still had Mr Anucha as their preferred choice to take the helm at City Hall.

Voters placed their importance on individual candidates over representatives fielded by political parties, the poll said.

King Prachadhipok's Institute carried out the poll from June 4-7 by asking 1,600 eligible voters across the capital.

Different direction on council poll

Nida and KPI pollsters, however, predicted different results on city councillors for all 50 districts in Bangkok.

Nida Poll said 32.85% of voters would support independent candidates, a slight increase from 29.10%, followed by contenders running under the People's Party banner, who received 27.80%, up from 26.50%.

But KPI Poll showed People's Party candidates coming first with 27.7%, ahead of independent choices who gained 18.5%.

Both polls said the Democrats was the third most popular for voters in the city council race.