ISLAMABAD: While Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has been alleging that it was deprived of almost 80 seats of National Assembly, a recent study claimed that 54 per cent of Pakistanis believed the elections were overall transparent.

The study was conducted by IPSOS, one of the largest research companies operating in 90 countries with more than 20,000 research professionals.

However, 39pc thought the February 8 elections were rigged. The highest perception of rigging came from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the province in which the PTI won majority, and where 73pc people believed that elections were rigged.

IPSOS in its study, “Post-election perception survey regarding transparency and rigging”, interviewed over 3,000 people from across the country.

It showed that three of five Pakistanis believed that the polling day processes were fair and transparent. Positivity was higher among rural population.

About discontinuation of mobile phone service, opinions were split regarding whether it was a good or bad initiative. As many as 33pc of the respondents said it was a good decision while 29pc believed it was bad. The remaining respondents preferred to remain neutral. Highest satisfaction with the discontinuation was in Balochistan and lowest in KP.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2024