PPP placed well for polls in upper Sindh: Survey

Saturday, 6 Apr 2013 1:50 pm, Source

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) may lead the upcoming polls in upper Sindh, but its alliance with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has been disapproved by its electorate, according to a survey, reported a national newspaper on Saturday.

The survey was conducted by ActionAid in collaboration with a provincial think tank, Sindh Institute of Democracy and Development (Sidd). The survey, being carried out in three phases in Sindh, just completed its first phase in Sukkur, Khaipur, Larkana, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Dadu and Jamshoro districts. The opinion poll is based on qualitative research in which the surveyors interacted with a cross-section of civil society, political parties and local communities.

“We held multiple sessions in each of the six districts and asked 17 questions from the participants,” Zulfiqar Halepoto of Sidd said.

In the 2008 elections, the PPP won nine out of 10 National Assembly (NA) seats and 25 out of 27 Sindh Assembly seats from these districts, losing only one national and two provincial seats to the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F). The survey revealed that 79 percent of the participants voted for the PPP in the 2008 elections, but only 45 percent said they will vote for it again.

More than 64 percent of those who voted for the PPP said they sympathised with the party after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Nearly 17 percent who voted were affiliated with the party and nine percent voted merely due to their dislike for Pervez Musharraf.

The same reasons do not, however, exist anymore and the participants said they are more concerned about other issues.

The PML-F appeared to be a popular choice with 25 percent of the participants opting for it, followed by 10 per cent for the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, Sindhi nationalists and the MQM were all below five percent in the districts covered in the first phase.

Interestingly, 39 percent of the participants withdrew their faith in the PML-N when they were asked which party is capable of solving Sindh’s problems.

Around 30 percent of the people felt that denial of national rights is the country’s worst problems, followed by 25 percent who felt bad governance is a problem. 10 percent of the people felt that the law and order situation and the energy crisis needs to be resolved soon, followed by eight percent who believed religious extremism is a huge problem.

The PPP-MQM alliance in Sindh in the outgoing government was opposed by 94 percent of the people, while over 75 percent supported a future alliance among the PPP, PML-F, PML-N and nationalists in Sindh. Yet, the people were divided when the PML-F, PML-N and nationalists coalition was suggested as an alternate to the PPP. More than 90 percent viewed the role of the MQM in provincial politics negatively.

Around 25per cent of the people recommended the parties should include education reforms in their election manifestos, followed by 22 percent who asked for employment, 14 percent who wanted rule of law, 12 percent for flood rehabilitation, and nine percent for improvement in irrigation.

Only seven percent have faith that the new government will allow merit in jobs and 16 percent felt it would be transparent.

The second and third phases of the survey in the remaining 16 districts of Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and parts of Sukkur division will be completed by the end of April.