Struggling with high food and fuel prices, rural Thais say protesters in Bangkok ought to let the government concentrate on the economy rather than make it expend energy on survival after just five months in power.
The legacy of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a 2006 coup amid allegations of corruption, ensures support in the countryside for current Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, who campaigned on Thaksin's populist ticket.
Indeed, many rural Thais want to see Thaksin in charge again.
"While the economy is teetering, they should let the government focus on resolving economic problems, not its own political survival," Adisorn Puangsaithong, a chicken seller in the northeastern province of Sisaket, said.
"A costly snap election will not solve anything as long as those people don't allow the government to start working," said the 29-year-old, who voted for Samak's People Power Party (PPP) at the December poll that marked Thailand's return to democracy.
Thaksin won two landslide election victories with a similar populist programme of cheap healthcare, debt waivers for farmers and handouts for village development programmes.
Samak, who pledged to revive Thaksin's policies during the election campaign, last week unveiled a $1.4 billion package of tax cuts and handouts aimed at supporting the economy and helping the poor cope with inflation.
However, Samak's six-party coalition has been distracted by prolonged street protests against the government, along with court rulings that cost Samak two senior cabinet ministers and could lead to the disbanding of his party.
Samak has rejected calls for him to quit from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a coalition of activists, royalists and businessmen that has led a small but determined street campaign since May 25, accusing the Samak government of trying to protect Thaksin from corruption charges.
Many farmers in Sisaket, a top rice-growing region near the Cambodian border, believe the well-heeled protesters in Bangkok are trying to subvert their democratic vote that helped to put the government in power for a four-year term.
"The PAD must respect the mandate that the majority of people have given these parties to run the country," said Pramuan Kiddeejing in Hinkone, a village 600 kilometres northeast of Bangkok that mainly grows fragrant jasmine rice.
"What they are doing on the street is no different from how our kids behave in the village," the 49-year-old farmer said.
Because of the protests, which are spreading out to many provinces from Bangkok, the government had no time to help the poor fight the rising cost of living, people in the village said.
"The protesters should stop and let the government get on with its work," Pramuan said.
They made it clear their support for Samak's government was based on the policies Thaksin pursued during his five years in power from 2001, including a controversial war on drugs in 2003 in which at least 2,500 people were killed.
"I voted for PPP because I like Thaksin," said street vendor Adisorn, adding that Thaksin had "wiped out drugs from Thailand".
The former billionaire premier, who faces a series of corruption cases filed by military-appointed investigators, insists his political days are over.
Few in Bangkok believe him, arguing he is pulling strings from behind the scenes. But his return to power would suit the farmers of Sisaket just fine.
"I wish to see him come back to run the country. He is a man of his word," Pramuan said.
