More than half of the respondents of a Dhaka Tribune opinion poll have said they were not happy with the BNP’s performance since January, but said the ruling party should engage in a dialogue with the opposition party which does not have any representation in the current parliament.
Nearly 52% of the respondents said they were not satisfied with BNP’s performance while 36.2% said they were satisfied.
However, despite the dissatisfaction with the BNP’s performance, a significant majority of 71.5% believe that the ruling Awami League should conduct a political dialogue with the BNP.
A reputed polling firm conducted the survey from August 10-22 on behalf of the Dhaka Tribune during which they interviewed a total of 1,217 people – both urban and rural male and female – over telephone using structured questionnaires.
Nearly four-fifths of the interviewed said they disagreed with the BNP’s threat to launch an agitation movement. Of them, 29.3% strongly disagreed with the BNP’s stance. Only 20% of the respondents said they believed that the BNP should go for agitation.
Regarding BNP’s ties with Jamaat-e-Islami – a party often blamed for committing war crimes as an organisation during the 1971 Liberation War – more than half of the respondents said they were against it.
Some 55.5% said BNP should leave Jamaat, but 37.6% believe that the two parties should remain together. The respondents were also asked about what they thought about BNP’s longstanding demand for immediately holding what it said was “free and fair election.”
More than half that is 53% said the next parliamentary election should be held after the current Awami League government, which came to power through a unilateral election on January 5, completes its tenure.
A little over 17% said fresh election should be held within a year, 8.4% said as soon as possible and 1.7% said within three years.
In the last Dhaka Tribune opinion poll conducted right after the January 5 election, roughly 77% said they wanted a fair and fully participatory election as early as possible or within the year.
Nearly 44% said they were dissatisfied with the January 5 election, and 43.8% said holding fresh election was the most pressing issue facing the country.
