"Populus" creates an image of the vote?
Based on results of public surveys on social-political issues and foreign affairs in Armenia and the NKR, exactly half of Armenia's population says the country is developing in the right direction and only a third say it is going in the wrong direction.
The study was conducted by the "Populus" British Company and the "APSC" Institute of Political and Sociological Consultations by the request of the organization "European Friends of Armenia" and the surveys were conducted in Yerevan and all provinces of Armenia from October 15 to 18.
The surveys showed that there has been limited progress in the functioning of democracy and almost no progress in the fight against corruption.
If elections were held today, who would you vote for? In response to that, Serzh Sargsyan remains the political figure that will receive the highest number of votes. According to the survey, Sargsyan has three times more supporters (28%) than the second candidate Gagik Tsarukyan (10%).
Surveys show that over a third of the population is undecided or wouldn't vote for anybody; 27% said they would never vote for Levon Ter-Petrosyan and only 3% would cast their votes for the Armenian National Congress.
Levon Ter-Petrosyan officially received over 21.5% of votes during the 2008 presidential elections. Based on that, one of the journalists raised the concern that the surveys can lead to lack of confidence among analysts and the society by presenting only 3% of people who would vote for Levon Ter-Petrosyan.
Secretary General of "European Friends of Armenia" Michael Kambek responded that they are not an interested party, non-partisan, not part of Armenia and believe in the impartiality of the surveys since they have personally called certain people and found out. According to him, the results may change since ratings can either go up or down. For instance, he said he didn't like Armenians' responses regarding the European Union.
Director of the "APSC" Institute of Political and Sociological Consultations Hovhannes Grigoryan said ratings of all candidates fall during the post-electoral period, but the media help the authorities.
HAK's commentary
"A1+" tried to find out the HAK's viewpoint on the results of the survey.
"The best surveys are held during referenda. Besides Levon Ter-Petrosyan, there is no other political figure that has such public support in Armenia and there won't be for a long time," said Levon Ter-Petrosyan's press speaker Arman Musinyan.
By the way
In the period between 2008 February 21 and 24, "Populus" conducted a survey with 1,500 people by the request of Public Television and based on the results, 53% said they voted for Serzh Sargsyan and 20% said they voted for Levon Ter-Petrosyan. In other words, the numbers presented by "Populus" shape the image presented by the CEC.
