A poll carried out by the National Institute for Development Administration, or Nida Poll, reveals that the people still have a widely varying understanding of the additional question in the Aug 7 charter referendum concerning appointed senators vote for the prime minister.
The poll was conducted on Aug 23-24 on 1,250 people, aged 18 and over, who were eligible voters in the Aug 7 referendum, to ask about their understanding of the additional question.
Most of the respondents, 36.24%, thought the senators would have the right to both nominate a candidate and vote along with members of the House of Representatives for the prime minister.
However, 33.68% said they had no understanding of it at all, while 27.6% thought the senators would be only allowed to vote to elect the prime minister and not to nominate a candidate, 1.76% said they knew only that the prime minister would not be from an election, and 0.72% said they thought the senators would not have the right to vote for the prime minister but would be allowed to nominate a candidate.
Concerning the senators' involvement in the election of the prime minister during the transitition, 37.12% of the respondents were of the understanding that the senators would be allowed to get involved only after the MPs were not able to elect the prime minister by themselves; 33.2% said they did not understand this point at all; 28.08% said their understanding was that both the senators and MPs would take part in the nomination of candidates for prime minister from the beginning; 0.88% said they knew only that there might be an election in 2017 and the prime minister would be elected after that; and, 0.72% had no comment.
Asked about the election of the prime minister during the five-year transition, 47.68% thought the prime minister would be elected from those on lists proposed by political parties and an outsider might be elected; 26.56% thought the prime minister would be elected from the lists of candidates proposed by political parties only; 24.08% said they had no understanding of this point at all; and, 0.72% said they knew only that the prime minister would be elected; and, 0.96% had no comments.