19 percent of respondents disbelieve the election will be free and fair

07-07-2007 14:56:16 – KarabakhOpen

The results of the poll conducted by the Independent Center for
Humanitarian and Political Studies last week suggest that 41 percent of
respondents get information on the public and political life from the
Public Television of Artsakh, 22 from independent sources, including 43
from the Demo Newspaper, 14 from the official print media and 10.5 from
the Internet.

Over 32 percent of respondents trust the Public Television of Artsakh,
7.3 percent trust independent media, 5 percent trust the official print
media, 8.1 percent trust the Internet.

28 percent declined to answer the question on the media, found it
difficult to answer and said they do not trust any media. It shows the
low level of interest of respondents in the public life and elections,
as well as the low level of trust in the media. It is largely due to
the pro-government politicians and journalists, as well as different
agencies, which instill in public that the outcome of the election is
predetermined, and the government’s candidate and leaderships of
parliament parties have agreement on ministerial posts.

In answer to the question `Are you aware of the right to vote set down
in the NKR Constitution?’ 37 respondents said yes, 40 percent said `not
so well’, 5 percent are unaware, 13 percent did not answer this
question. Over 86 percent of respondents said they will vote, 13 will
not vote or have not made a decision yet. (In addition, most
respondents who think the outcome is predetermined and decided not to
vote declined to take part in the poll.)

It is notable that 19 percent of respondents do not believe the
election will be free and fair, 16 percent said their participation
will not change anything, 4 percent will have gone away. 42 percent
explained their decision to vote by their civil duty, 41 percent want
to change life, 10 percent want to support the candidate whose ideas
their share.