48pc confident of govt’s neutrality in election

As many as 48 per cent of people believe that the role of the interim government is neutral in the 13th national parliamentary election, while 11.3 per cent think that the government is not neutral, according to a news survey.

Private organisation Institute of Informatics and Development (IID) and its youth platform Youth for Policy (YFP) released the finding of this pre-election public perception survey titled “How informed is Bangladesh on the path to elections?” at a hotel in Dhaka on Tuesday.

The survey, conducted across 40 districts in the country’s eight divisions, was carried out on 6–7 January and included a total of 9,892 participants.

The survey also asked about the July Charter and the referendum. At the national level, only 37.2 per cent of respondents said they are aware of the contents of the July Charter. Significant differences were observed across age groups. Among voters over the age of 35, this rate was 23.2 per cent, while among those aged 18 to 35, it was 45.7 per cent. In rural areas, 32.4 per cent said they are aware, whereas in urban areas the figure was 41.4 per cent.

Many respondents were also not clearly aware of what would happen if ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ wins in the referendum. At the national level, more than 29 per cent of respondents lack knowledge about what would happen if ‘Yes’ were to win.

The survey indicates that respondents’ understanding of specific reform issues is also weak. Forty-three per cent said they are aware of what changes have been proposed in the July Charter regarding fundamental rights, while 55.3 per cent said they are not aware. This rate is even higher among older and less educated respondents.

The survey findings show that the greatest risk to pre-election inclusion lies in the ability to read and understand the language of the ballot. Although 72.4 per cent of respondents said they can easily read and understand the text of the referendum ballot, this rate drops to 57 per cent among those over the age of 35. Among those with no formal education, the figure falls further to 26.6 per cent.

IID’s Executive Director Syeed Ahamed presented the survey findings at the event. IID Senior Joint Director of YFP head Sunjida Rahman and IID senior joint director Mariam Tasnim, among others, were present.