Preliminary Findings of Opinion Poll on Conduct of Pakistan’s General Elecons 2024

Preliminary Findings of Opinion Poll Conducted by PATTAN-Coalition38
“A large majority of the people from northern snow-clad districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province wanted to have general elections on the scheduled date, though most (83%) of the respondents of the opinion-poll survey have doubts about the holding of election on due date.” These are some of major findings of an opinion-poll that PATTAN-Coalition38 had conducted during December 8 – 13 December 2023.
Preliminary analysis of the opinion poll conducted also reveals that as many as 88% of the survey respondents wanted to have polling on the scheduled date. Interestingly 88% of those who opined that they would vote for PMLN in the next election also wanted to have election on due date, while 89% of the PTI’s voters agreed with them. Moreover, a large majority (83%) of the respondents residing in coldest areas of KP such as Chitral, Dir, Swat and Abbottabad also wanted to have polling on 8th February.
Nearly two-third of the survey respondents believe that the ECP has not been performing its duties fairly and honestly, while 62% said the level playing field was not available to all parties. More than 70% of the respondents expressed doubts about the conduct of caretaker governments. The respondents also believed that the caretaker governments were not acting neutrally, justly, and honestly. When the same question was asked about the conduct of judiciary, only 38% said judiciary was acting fairly and justly, while 34% of them said “no, or not-at-all”.
As many as 85% of the respondents said they would cast their vote in the election. Those who said they would cast their vote, 66% of them said if elections were to be held tomorrow they would vote for PTI, while only 13% mentioned PMLN name, and 5% named PPP.
When the respondents were asked to state name of their favorite political leader, 68% mentioned Imran Khan’s name, 13% opted for Nawaz Sharif, 4% said Sirajul Haq, while only 3% mentioned Bilawal Bhutto Zardari/s name.
Moreover, our opinion poll shows that very few or 11% each respondents rely on electronic and print media to ascertain political information, while 75% mentioned social media as the most favorable source of political information.
The opinion poll also reveals that two-third (67%) of the respondents appear to have doubts about holding of polls on 8th February. However, those who believe that election will take place on the due date, their majority (61%) belong to PMLN, while only 26% of the PTI supporters said election would take place according to the scheduled date. Interestingly despite all doubts and lack of trust in the Election Commission and caretaker governments more than 88% of the supporters of each party wanted election to take place on the due date. For further details see attached file.
The opinion poll was conducted with 455 randomly selected social, and rights activists belonging to labour unions, civil society organisations, traditional media/press club, bar associations and academia etc. of 45 districts. The survey was completed during December 8 – 13 December 2023.