A survey of the Democracy International Inc. has reconfirmed the Election Commission’s claim that around 40% votes were cast in last month’s 10th general election amid boycott from the BNP.
“Of those interviewed in the areas where there was voting, 40.7% said they had cast their votes. This corresponds with the official numbers released by the BEC [Bangladesh Election Commission],” the survey report said.
As lawmakers were elected uncontested in a total of 153 seats, voters in only 146 constituencies got chance to exercise their franchise. The BNP alleged that less than 5% votes were cast in the January 5 election.
The nationwide opinion poll, based on face-to-face interviews with 1,500 Bangladeshi adults, also said 77% of the respondents did not cast their votes in the election.
Democracy International Inc. released the results of the opinion survey conducted by famous research organisation Nielsen from January 11-15.
The survey also said 10% of the interviewed BNP supporters cast their votes in the election although the party had boycotted and threatened to resist it. None of the surveyed supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami cast their votes.
About BNP’s boycott, 52% said it was not successful. 42% thought that the new government did not have any moral or constitutional ground to rule the country.
The survey report also said 45% people thought that the Election Commission did not act neutrally in the elections. 48% said the election was not held freely and fairly and there was fraud everywhere.
