IRI's latest survey shows PML-N as most popular party
30 January, 2013
LAHORE: As the general election nears and politics of coalitions, alliance and disagreements heats up across the country, the first survey report from an international organisation has been launched, showing the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) as the most popular party. The survey was conducted by the International Republican Institute (IRI) between November 2 and November 22 last year, and took random opinion of 4,997 people. The sample was proportioned by age, gender, income, literacy and linguistic. The people were asked which party they would vote for in the upcoming elections for the National Assembly (NA) as well as the provincial assemblies, along with some other political questions like "the need to establish new provinces" or "the problem of terrorism". The report was revealed by the organisation two days ago with comprehensive data. The survey also revealed that a majority of Pakistanis were not in favour of the creation of new provinces in Punjab, while most people were not seeing terrorism as a major problem for Pakistan. Data of the recent survey was then compared to an earlier survey conducted between July and August last year to identify the popularity trends. According to the survey, PML-N's popularity had increased both on the national and provincial level and 32 percent eligible voters gave vote in favour of the opposition party as compare to 28 percent in July-August 2012. In contrast, the ruling Pakistan People's Party's (PPP) popularity remained stable, while Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which appeared to be the most popular party at the national level following the PML-N, saw a decrease in support from 24 percent in the last survey to 18 percent in the latest report. In the report, The PML-N is on the top with 32 percent, while the PTI is on second slot with 18 percent. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has only four percent popularity, while the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid has only two percent popularity. Maulana Fazlur Rehman's Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) is at the bottom with only 2 percent. During the survey, around 17 percent of the people were not confirmed about their party affiliation or to vote. In Punjab, the PML-N remained the most popular party with 49 percent support, followed by the PTI with 19 percent and the PPP with only eight percent. In Sindh, The PML-N is on second position with 14 percent against the PPP, which is in the leading position, though its popularity has declined by seven percent to stand at 32 percent. The MQM is also popular with 16 percent in the urban and rural Sindh. The survey shows that PML-N's popularity is 12 percent with the increase of three percent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In Khyber Paktunkhwa, PTI is number one in popularity with 32 percent, while the PPP has only five percent, JUI-F six percent and ruling Awami National Party with only three percent. In Balochistan, the PML-N has 13 percent popularity, while the PPP is the most popular party in the province with 18 percent. The PTI has only eight percent popularity in the province. The IRI could not conduct the survey in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Chitral due to the volatile situation in the areas. End.
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