neither could call on an outsider to become prime minister, just when, for them, such a person was needed. Consequently, all three parties deliberately left their options open particularly with regard to the New Aspiration and Demo- on either Chaovalit crat Parties, in the knowledge that they might have to call was a more distant or Chuan to take the prime ministerial chair. Chamlong to Chart Thai as possibility, but his role in May made him as unacceptable Chart Thai was to him. Of the other party leaders, Dr. Arthit was an even more remote possibility, but his Seritham Party was bound to be small, and it was doubtful that he would wish to re-align himself with the groups that he had so recently left. The right-wing Samak would not be acceptable to the people, and he was the leader of what was probably destined to be an even smaller party than Arthit's; Uthai's Solidarity Party would be no stronger, and the Muan Chon and Rassadorn Parties and their leaders could be completely discounted. The posturing of the party leaders was one element in the debate over the future prime minister, the opinion polls were another. Whereas polls before the March election had concentrated on the overall election outcome, in the run up to the September elections, the focus was more on soliciting opinions from the public on "preferred" and"likely" prime ministers. the popular Table 9.1 below gives a summary of the results of polls gauging ity of the main contenders for the prime ministership, and reflects the mood of the people particularly in relation to the relative success of the point scoring bat that was being Dharma and Democrat Parties.