Abhisit Vejjajiva, 45, once said that he is a young prime minister and he would be a young former prime minister as well. Although his tenure may not be long, PM Abhisit is confident of making the greatest use of his limited term. He spoke to Nattaya Chetchotiros before he flew to Copenhagen.
The military's secret poll predicts your Democrat Party will win 150 House seats and the opposition will have over 300
You said you might step down from your position before you get old. If that happens, do you think that your presence as the prime minister would be significant enough for people to remember?
That is not the point. We must know that under the present situation, it is difficult for a leader in this world to have a chance to work for a long time. Society and the nation are moving forward.
People of any other generation must have their chances to grow too.
Are you not confident of the next general election?
No one can predict the result of an election.
You seem not to accept any poll result that is negative to your party's popularity. The military's secret poll predicts your Democrat Party will win 150 House seats and the opposition will have over 300.
I do not believe that. I have my own figures. Abac Poll's survey is different. I have been in politics for 17 years and passed seven elections, a particular poll centre which I will not identify is never right. I never take sides too easily. I look at facts, the background of poll centres and details. Under the present situation, it will never be 300 against 150.
What is the possible differential?
From the basis in 2007 when they had over 230 and we had 160, I think our number will be better while theirs will not drop much though. I am confident that our situation is definitely better than in 2007 and theirs is not much worse. Noticeable losses will go to medium-sized parties due to many reasons.
If you lose another election, what will your political future be?
If we do not win, I will take responsibility. But we should not jump to a conclusion whether we will win or lose because no one knows. The number of our MPs compared to theirs is quite different, but not the number of votes. The votes were just enough for them to win, but the differential was small enough for us to turn around and win as well. The differential in the Northeast may be too big for us to turn out and win but the possibility exists in the North and the Central Plains.
I learn from my meetings with people in many rural areas that they are not the vote base of that party. The feedback is quite good. We have worked for one year in an economic crisis but they worked continuously for six years under the previously growing economy.
Why do populist campaigns not work for you?
What we are doing is not a populist campaign which is short-lived. We are promoting the rights and welfare that people deserve. Children receive free education, the elderly receive allowances and people who are not civil servants will receive savings. No one could do this in their decade-long vote campaign but we can make it in 11 months after taking office.
We have made a clear difference in the past year. Our policy to insure farmers' incomes draws the agricultural sector out of the long-standing, loss-ridden and corruption-plagued crop-pledging system.
This is a big development with nationwide coverage. Can any party do this in less than a year? Someone proposed we test the new system in one area but we introduced it for 4 million farmers' families nationwide in four months.
I can say that we have made substantial differences in many aspects in the past year.
What is your expectation from the income insurance scheme for farmers?
I can say that a number of rural people who have not supported our party and not seen its administrative role for a long time now consider us as a choice. I dare not say if they will vote for us but they no longer wonder if we care about them or not.
How will you solve the Map Ta Phut problem?
It will be too long to wait for an independent organisation to conduct environmental and health impact assessments. I want the 65 [suspended] projects to proceed with the assessments right away and we will try to issue relevant regulations before the end of the year.
I will try to see the whole process completed in six or nine months to unlock these projects.
Are you ready for a quick election?
We must be always ready for an election anytime, but I would like to see a little more stable recovery in the country first.
I want to see electoral rules that are acceptable to all parties. I want to eliminate all the risks of violence or clashes. An election that leads to a clash will be even much worse for democracy.
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