A scientific opinion poll conducted by a pro-democracy civil society group, Justice and Democracy for Development (JD4D) has indicated that there is palpable fear of violence among voters which might drastically affect the November 11 governorship election in Imo State.
The CSO, in a report released Friday, said political parties participating in the election are working hard to outdo each other in canvassing support especially to sway the undecided voters.
The report also found that respondents are worried voter inducement.
It noted: “Political parties have contacted people in different ways to get their support. Some of the ways are giving food and drinks for attending a rally (51%), sending a message on social media asking to support a candidate (47%), and door to door visit (41%).”
On the possiblity of violence, the report said: “64% agreed that possibility of violence or unrest will/may lead them not to go to the polling station to vote in the forthcoming gubernatorial election.
“Close to three-fifths (57%) agreed that the forthcoming gubernatorial election will increase the level of violence where they live.”
The report added that random sampling and in-depth interviews conducted across the 27 local government areas of the state predicted victory for Governor Hope Uzodimma.
“The APC is trailed by the Labour Party (LP) with 18 percent chances while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came third with 13 percent,” parts of the report stated.
“Three percent of the respondents said they were yet to decide on their choice. Two percent said they will not vote while 1 percent of the respondents declined to disclose their choice.
“Chances of the APC are mainly spread among middle-aged and elderly persons across sexes with respondents mostly in urban areas choosing the party over the two closest rivals. Out of the 27 LGAs opinions are higher for APC in 17 LGAs, 6 LGAs in favour of Labour Party while 4 LGAs favour PDP.”
Aside polling higher among eligible voters, the result showed that “majority of respondents (at 70 percent) believes that APC is likely to win the election ahead of Labour Party (24 percent), followed by PDP at 12 percent”.
“In 17 out of the 27 LGs majority of respondents believed APC will win the election while in 7 and 3 local governments majority of respondents believed Labour and PDP will win, respectively.”
