A large majority of people are enthusiastic about the forthcoming election, but believe vote-buying will be rampant during the campaign, according to the result of an opinion survey by the National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll.
The opinions were collected on Jan 23-24 via telephone interviews with 1,250 people aged 18 and over of various levels of education and occupations across the country.
A large majority, 72.64%, of the respondents said they were eager to cast their votes after five years without an election. Only 19.68% said they were not particularly enthusiastic about it, and 7.68% said they were not excited about it at all.
On vote-buying, a huge majority -- 78.16% -- said they believed vote-buying will be rampant during the election campaign. Only 18.88% said they believe there would be no vote-buying at all, while 2.96% were uncertain.
Asked whether they believe political parties would be able to put the policies they outline during the campaign into practice, 53.28% said they are not certain; 23.84% were doubtful; 20.48% were confident; and 2.40% were very confident they would be able to do so.
Asked to what extent a party's policies would influence their decision to vote for a candidate, 42.32% said they would be highly influential; 28.08% said the party's policies would have little bearing; 15.36% said they would weigh considerably; and 14.24% said a party's policies would have no influence on their decision.