More than 95 percent of respondents in an opinion poll said they intended to go to the polls while over 77 percent admitted they didn’t know that they will have to cast only one ballot, according to an opinion poll conducted by the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida).
Nida Poll gauged the opinions of 1,261 people aged from 18 upward of different levels of education and different occupations across the country during November 5-7 about their understanding of the new electoral system under the 2017 Constitution.
Under the new electoral system, a voter will cast just one ballot for both the constituency and party-list candidate instead of two separate ballots as in previous elections. The ballot is counted as the vote of the candidate and of the party for party-list seats.
The poll shows that only 22.20 percent of the respondents know there is just one ballot that they will have to cast.
Asked whether they knew candidates for the same party will have one unique number for different constituencies or have different numbers in different constituencies, 82.79 percent of the respondents admitted they didn’t know while 17.21 percent said they knew.
About the voting time under the new election law, 73.51 percent said they didn’t know while 20.30 said they knew it will be from 8 am to 5 pm. In previous elections, the election time is from 8 am to 3 pm.
Of those who said they will definitely go to the polls, asked whether they would vote for parties, candidates or for party policies, 47.02 percent said they would base their decisions on party policies while 13.91 said they would base their judgments on candidates.
