ISLAMABAD: Nearly 80 per cent of respondents in an opinion poll, conducted by Pattan, disagreed with the order of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to postpone the election for the Punjab Assembly to October 8.

However, there appeared a huge disagreement based on political affiliation. For instance, 95pc of pro-PTI respondents and only 23pc of PDM supporters disagreed with the ECP decision.

Moreover, the survey respondents were asked to share their views regarding who in their view was primarily responsible for causing the ongoing crisis. About 80pc of the respondents believed the PDM (45pc), establishment (21pc), and both (4pc) were basically responsible for creating the crisis.

As many as 80pc of the respondents opined that free distribution of wheat flour was not going to provide any political benefit to the incumbent government in the next general election.

Findings show 95pc PTI respondents and 33pc PDM supporters against poll delay

“Interestingly, 52pc of the respondents who said they would vote for PDM in the next general election also believed that free distribution of wheat flour was not going to provide any benefit to the PDM parties while 88pc of pro-PTI respondents carried this view. The respondents were also requested to enlist problems they have been facing currently. One-fourth of them mentioned poor governance and corrupt elite, while 45pc said unemployment, high inflation and insecurity,” according to the findings.

Since the country has been facing political and economic crises simultaneously, it was considered important to seek public perception on the relationship between politics and economics or political economy of the crisis. About two-third of the respondents thought both were two sides of the same coin.

“It appears 70pc of the respondents were likely to vote for PTI if elections are held today, while 25pc to PDM and Pakistan People’s Party. The findings appear to corroborate trends of some other opinion polls held in recent weeks,” it stated.

Pattan in collaboration with Coalition38 conducted the survey from March 29 to April 5. The questionnaire was sent to 5,120 voters who were randomly registered as respondents. In total, 1,974 recipients of the questionnaire sent back the survey questionnaire. The incomplete survey forms were excluded from the analysis.It is worth mentioning that civil society had earlier rejected order of the Election Commission to postpone the general election to the Punjab Assembly.It is worth mentioning here that civil society organisations had earlier rejected the ECP to postpone the election in Punjab.They had claimed that the decision would add to the existing polarisation and deepen the multi-faceted turmoil to a dangerous level.

“We the civil society activists strongly condemn the decision of the ECP as it has not only violated the order of the Supreme Court but also section 58 of the Elections Act 2017 which clearly states that ECP must ‘inform the President about any alteration in the election programme,” Pattan and other organisations had claimed.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2023