1 of 4 voters intends to guard votes –survey

MANILA, Philippines–For every 4 voters that will go to the polls in May, 1 intends to watch the counting of votes, according to a special survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The survey was conducted in February 2010 to determine the planned personal activities of Filipinos voters for the May elections.

It showed also showed that 1 out of 5 wants to get involved in groups helping to have an orderly and clean election.

The survey also showed that intention to watch vote counting is highest in the rest of Luzon at 31% and lowest at the Visayas at 20%. The figures for Mindanao and Metro Manila are 25% and 21%, respectively.

Intention to watch the counting of votes is higher among classes ABC at 27% than classes D (23%) and class E (22%).

The intention to get involved in organizations that help ensure clean and orderly elections is highest in Mindanao. “Those who plan to serve for organizations that will help in having an orderly and clean election is slightly higher in Mindanao (25%) and Metro Manila (21%) than in Balance Luzon (18%) and Visayas (17%),” the survey showed.

At the national level, intention to serve for organizations helping in the conduct of election is at 20%, while only 11% of Filipino voters they want to post campaign posters.

Rallies, posters

“Registered voters have varied planned activities for the May 2010 elections: 26% plan to watch the counting of votes, 23% attend political rallies and 20% serve in organizations that will help in having an orderly and clean election,” the survey showed.

Other planned activities for the May elections, the survey showed, are as follow:

* Being a watcher for a political candidate (15%)
* Putting up posters for politicians (11%)
* Actively campaigning for a political candidate (9%)
* Being a member of the Board of Election Inspectors (3%)

The results of the recent survey are similar to results of three pre-election surveys conducted in 2007.

“In the three pre-election surveys of 2007, to watch vote-counting and to attend political rallies were also the top planned activities for the May 2010 national elections,” SWS said.

Active Mindanaoans

Voters from Mindanao, among the major island groups, are the most intent on attending political rallies. “Intention to attend political rallies to listen to candidate’s platforms is highest in Mindanao (37%),” the SWS said in its survey. The figure for Mindanao is higher than those from the Visayas (20%), the rest of Luzon (19%), Metro Manila (15%), and the national figure of 23%.

Mindanao voters also have higher intention of putting up campaign posters of candidate and actively campaign for a candidate than their counterparts in other areas. “Twenty three percent in Mindanao intend to put up posters of candidates, the highest across all 4 areas. It is 8% in the rest of Luzon, 7% on the Visayas and 6% in Metro Manila,” the survey showed.

Intention to actively campaign for candidates, the survey also showed, is higher in Mindanao at 15%. This is higher than the figure for the rest of Luzon (6%), and the 9% for the Visayas and Metro Manila.

The survey was conducted from February 24-28, 2010, using face-to-face interviews of 2,100 registered voters, divided into random samples of 300 in Metro Manila and 600 each in the rest of Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. It has a margin of error of of±2.2% for national percentages, ±6% for Metro Manila, and ±4% for the rest of Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. (abs-cbnNews.com/Newsbreak)