OPINION POLL SHOWS UPFA INTHE LEAD
Referring to the findings of an opinion poll conducted by the University of Kelaniya, Professor Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa said there would be a tripartite battle to secure seats in the Eastern Provincial Council during the upcoming provincial elections.
Addressing a media briefing on Tuesday Professor Piyadasa, University of Kelaniya Mass Communication Faculty Dean, said according to the survey results the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) will be in the forefront of the battle for the Eastern Provincial Council.
However according to the overall results of the opinion survey UPFA would win the provincial elections to be held in the Eastern, North Central and the Sabaragamuwa provinces, with a majority of 59%.
The United National Party (UNP) will re- ceive a 15% mandate while the JVP, SLMC and TNA will gain 2%, 8% and 10% of the power respectively as per the overall results of the poll. The poll results have further revealed that the TNA will gain 29% of the mandate in the Eastern Province and the SLMC, 21%. The UNP is to secure 10% of the mandate in the Eastern province.
The opinion poll had collected data from a sample of 3500 individuals
The opinion poll had collected data from a sample of 3500 individuals and the university lecturers had supervised the research while the students of the University of Kelaniya had done the field work for the poll.
Professor Piaydasa speaking further noted that the poll was conducted giving equal representative opportunities to the genders and ethnicities.
Referring to more results of the poll he said the UPFA would secure 76% of the mandate in the North Central province and 68% in the Sabaragamuwa province.
Dhammika Bandara, a lecturer in the research team noted that since it was unethical and illegal to enquire from the people as to whom they would vote for, the results contained the data collected on how people responded to the questions regarding their opinion as to who would win the elections.
The study was also done based on a survey on the people’s perception of development and the results showed that people viewed development as mass scale projects that were initiated to build infrastructure. Many had stated that the common problems in the country were a sense of hopelessness and rising prices of goods.