BNP leads, Jamaat second, AL trails in election survey

A survey released on Wednesday shows that 41.3 percent of voters intend to vote for BNP, 30.3 percent for Jamaat-e-Islami and 18.8 percent for Awami League in the next general election.

Besides, 4.10 percent voters will vote for National Citizen Party (NCP), 3.10 percent for Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB) and 0.90 percent for Jatiya Party.

A research firm, ‘Innovision’ in collaboration with a policy think tank ‘Voice for Reform’ and a research think tank ‘BRAIN’ conducted the study titled the 2nd part of ‘People’s Election Pulse Survey (PEPS).

The survey was conducted on September 2-15 in the country’s eight divisions with a sample of 10,413 voting aged population which is representative by age groups, gender, religion and division. Among them, 5,673 people have already taken decisions over their voting choice in the next election, but 4,354 (41.70pc) people revealed their decisions.

Innovision Managing Director Md Rubaiyath Sarwar presented the report of the survey at the National Achieve Auditorium in the city’s Agargaon area.

In case of the election without the participation of Awami League, 45.6 percent of the voters who disclosed their decision, want to vote for BNP, 33.5 percent for Jamaat, 4.7 percent for NCP, 3.8 percent for IAB and 2.1 percent for Jatiya Party.

According to the survey report, Awami League faces the highest level of dissatisfaction (33.4 percent) for its local politics, while having the lowest combined high satisfaction rating of 15.52 percent.

Conversely, Jamaat-e-Islami received the highest combined high satisfaction rating at 30.34 percent with a high dissatisfaction rate (19.7 percent) as well BNP gets only a 21.53 percent high-satisfaction rating against the second highest (27.64 percent) dissatisfaction rating.

If AL in Election

The voters are almost evenly divided over participation of Awami League in the next national election as 45.79 percent of respondents believe that all parties should have the opportunity to participate in the election, while 45.58 percent viewed that AL should not be allowed to participate before a trial.

Candidate’s Qualifications

For voters, a candidate's qualifications are the most important factor in their voting decisions as 65.5 percent of the general voters said they will consider a candidate's qualifications as more important rather than the party's electoral symbol, manifesto or candidate’s previous works. Only 14.7 percent said they would consider the party's electoral symbol, while 14.8 percent would see the previous works of a candidate.

Bangladesh’s Ties with India and Pakistan

A large majority of respondents want a good relationship with both India and Pakistan as 72.2 percent of respondents viewed having a good tie with India, while 69 percent with Pakistan.

Expectations from Future Government

Among the respondents, 57.5 percent expect an improved law and order situation from a future government, 54.6 percent want the control of commodity prices and 42.4 percent for higher employment generation, 36.9 percent checking corruption.

Regional Support

In terms of larger percentage of voters who revealed their voting choice, BNP is leading in 6 divisions, while Jamaat is in Rangpur and Awami League in Barishal division.

Among them, 43.4 percent want to vote for Jamaat, 36.7 percent for BNP and 12.5 percent for AL in Rangpur Division; 41.9 percent to voter for BNP, 27.6 percent for Jamaat and 17.1 percent for AL in Chattogram Division; 31.9 percent for AL, 29.1 percent for Jamaat and 28.7 percent for BNP in Barishal Division; 40.8 percent for BNP, 25.8 percent for AL and 24.3 percent for Jamaat in Dhaka Division; 43.3 percent for BNP, 30.1 for Jamaat and 18.3 percent for AL in Khulna Division; 45.7 percent for BNP, 25.8 for Jamaat and 17.3 percent for AL in Mymensingh Division; 44.4 percent for BNP, 40.9 percent for Jamaat and 9.2 percent for AL in Rajshahi Division; 44.7 percent for BNP, 29.6 percent for Jamaat and 14 percent for AL in Sylhet Division, reports UNB.