Poll says half of Azeri voters not to vote for anyone in upcoming elections

Text of report by Azerbaijani TV station ANS on 30th October

[Presenter] ANS TV is planning to find out people's opinions before the [forthcoming parliamentary]elections. Here are the results of today's opinion poll.

[Correspondent] The ANS independent broadcasting and media company has conducted an opinion poll in order to find out the people's assessment of the political weight of the five political organizations participating in the parliamentary elections scheduled for 5th November: the NAP [New Azerbaijan Party]; the PNIA [Party for National Independence of Azerbaijan]; the PFAP [People's Front of Azerbaijan Party]; Musavat; the Civic Solidarity Party; and the DPA [Democratic Party of Azerbaijan].

Respondents were asked two questions. First, do you know about the political parties operating in Azerbaijan? Second, which party will you vote for on 5th November? The second question was only asked if the answer to the first one was Yes. The result of the poll shows that 50.56 per cent of the respondents, in other words slightly more than half of the voters, do not intend to vote at all.

We think that the political parties, which are hoping for the people's political participation, should be concerned at this figure. A total of 28.3 per cent of the respondents said that they were going to vote for the New Azerbaijan Party and 13.11 per cent intend to vote for the PNIA . According to the poll, the expected share of the PFAP, Musavat, the Civic Solidarity Party and the DPA is 2.023, 2.031, 2.019 and 2.027 per cent of votes respectively.

Source: ANS TV, Baku, in Azeri 1600 gmt 30 Oct 00

BBC Mon TCU 311000 km/ha/sa

Posted October 31, 2000 © Eurasianet
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