An overwhelming 96 percent of people want to vote in the next parliamentary election and 86 percent feel that holding the polls on December 18 is very important for the nation, The Daily Star-Nielsen Election Opinion Poll 2008 revealed.
A large number of 97 percent respondents are confident that the upcoming elections will be free and fair.
They also want the next government to make prices of essentials as its prime task as 41 percent of the respondents marked it as the top most priority issue.
The next two issues they feel important to address are corruption (14 percent) and law and order (12 percent).
More female and rural voters tagged inflation as the first priority of the next government than male and urban respondents.
Interestingly, around one in four voters (23 percent) will cast their votes for the first time. Among the new voters, more number of females will be seen in the upcoming election — 29 percent, compared to the males — 18 percent.
BACKGROUND
The survey, the first of its kind by The Daily Star and Nielsen, was conducted among 5,040 voters covering 44 districts across Bangladesh. The respondents included equal numbers of males and females living in six divisions — Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal and Sylhet. Income wise, the respondents were divided into seven groups — the lowest range being Tk 1,000 to Tk 5,000 a month and the highest above Tk 100,000.
VOTING INTENTION
The survey revealed there is every possibility that about 37 percent of the voters will swing, with 14 percent already determined that they will not vote for the party they chose in last election and 23 percent have not decided which party to vote for, meaning they could go either way.
Categories: Bangla, Bangladesh, Bangladesh News, News
