Agencies
Colombo
A pre-election survey conducted by an independent organisation in Sri Lanka has found that current prime minister and the leader of the United National Party (UNP), Ranil Wickremasinghe, has more support from all sections of society than another aspirant and former president Mahinda Rajapakse to become the prime minister, a media report said.
Nationwide, 39.8% believed Wickremasinghe is best suited to be the prime minister as opposed to the 27.5% favouring Rajapakse.
Social Indicator, the survey research unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives conducted an islandwide pre-election opinion poll with the objective of identifying Sri Lankan voter perceptions and attitudes on key topics being discussed in the lead up to the election.
When asked about who they think is best suited to be the prime minister, majority from the Tamil (62.3%), upcountry Tamil (71.1%) and Muslim (62.3%) communities said Wickremesinghe, with less than 2% from each community saying that it should be Rajapakse. Opinion in the Sinhala community is divided, with 36% saying that it should be Rajapakse while 31.9% saying Wickremesinghe.
From a provincial perspective, most Sri Lankans from the western, central, northern, eastern, north-western, Uva and Sabaragamuwa support Wickremesinghe as prime minister while those in the southern and north central provinces support Rajapakse.
Sri Lankans are divided on the question about whether former president Mahinda Rajapakse should be contesting in the upcoming general elections. A 40% of Sri Lankans say that the former president should contest while 42% say that he should not contest.
Almost 50% from the Sinhala community say that he should contest while only 14.8% from the Tamil, 8.4% from the upcountry Tamil and 8.2% from the Muslim
communities state the same.
The key issues that Sri Lankans believe the next parliament should address are employment and employment opportunities for youth, reduction in the cost of living, accelerating the development of the country and improving the education system.
The three most important characteristics that Sri Lankans look for in a candidate are what that candidate has done for the country (19.4%), education (17.5%) and that they are not corrupt (15.6%).
For almost 50% of Sri Lankans it is extremely important that the candidates they plan on voting for have declared their assets while 18.5% say that it is somewhat important for them.
For an overwhelming majority of Sri Lankans (86.4%), the media is a source of information during election time. When asked what their primary source of media is during election time, 80.9% of Sri Lankans said television, 7.1% said radio and 5.9% said
newspapers.
A 59% of Sri Lankans say that the information they get from the media influences how they vote, while 29.6% say that it does not.
Only 4% of Sri Lankans believe that the 2015 general election will not be free and fair and 66.9% believe that it will be.
Conducted in the 25 districts of the country, this opinion poll captured the opinion of 1,986 Sri Lankans from the four main ethnic groups.