DHAKA: A post-poll survey has revealed that the majority of Bangladeshis want political parties to sit across the table and take immediate steps for holding fresh elections in the national interest.

Democracy International (DI) on Sunday released the findings of what it calls ‘Nationwide Public Opinion Survey’.
 
A key finding of the survey is that as many as 69 percent of Bangladeshis feel that the country is headed in the wrong direction.   

The main reasons for the lack of direction are perennial political conflict, too many hartals and price hikes. Seven people out of 10 demanded that BNP and AL start talking rightaway to break the deadlock without wasting any more time to normalise the worsening situation.  

Moreover, 40.7 percent of those interviewed in areas where elections were held said that they had cast their vote.
This corresponds with the official voting percentage released by the BEC. Fifty-nine percent wanted an election within five years, while 52 percent urged the BNP to halt its agitation and enter into a dialogue with the government.    

The survey also found that if an election was held today, 41.5 percent would vote for AL and 37.6 percent for BNP.  With a margin of error of 2.53 percent and 13.9 percent still undecided or unwilling to reveal their mind, the electoral environment remains competitive.  

David Dettman, Chief of Party for Democracy International’s Democratic Participation and Reform in
Bangladesh program, said, “Democracy International is delighted to continue to support the growth of an empirical public opinion research culture in Bangladesh.”  

He added: “We sincerely hope to continue to offer objective data that clarifies the political situation and offers constructive options to stakeholders to move forward.”  

The survey was conducted by Democratic Participation and Reform (DPR). DI has been implementing DPR, a five-year political parties program funded jointly by USAID and UK aid, for more than two years with three objectives: 1. Enhance grassroots participation in political parties with a focus on women and young people; 2. Improve information access and utilization by political actors through research; 3. Improve the environment for responsive politics.  

Fieldwork for Democracy International latest public opinion poll was done from January 11-15 with 1,500 respondents aged 18 and above. It claimed meeting international standards for statistical representative of the population nationwide with a maximum margin of error of +/- 2.53 percent with a 95 percent level of confidence.

BDST: 1815 HRS, FEB 02, 2014