Dissolve Parliament by April 23, keep your promise, says BT-RCB opinion poll
View(s):An opinion poll this week tracking the progress of the new Sri Lankan Government and its 100-day programme has concluded that most of the respondents want parliament to be dissolved by April 23 as promised.
The poll was conducted earlier in the week before the President on Thursday announced the April 20th debate on the 19th Amendment to be followed by the dissolution of parliament.
Asked -“Should the Government dissolve parliament by end April and hold parliamentary elections by June as scheduled?” most the respondents in the Business Times (BT)-Research Consultancy Bureau (RCB) poll said ‘Yes”. The poll covered over 1,000 respondents through email (BT) and street interviews in Colombo (RCB). To this particular question, 75 per cent (RCB) and 69 per cent (BT) responded with a “Yes” answer. The response clearly implies that the Government should keep to its word, prorogue parliament (with only President Maithripala Sirisena authorised to do so) and hold elections by June.
This is contrary to the results of the previous BT-RCB’s March 8 published poll which showed that 53 per cent of the respondents (both BT and RCB) preferred a postponement of the election, suggesting that the Government needs more time to deliver on all the reforms promised in the 100-day programme.
It was the third poll tracking the new Government following opinion polls that were held on February 8 and March 8. Unlike the previous polls where there was a slight disagreement of views between email and street respondents when asked almost similar questions, the latest poll showed that both segments had similar views on the performance of the Government.
To the question: “Has the Government made progress in tackling corruption of the past regime?” 68 per cent of the RCB respondents said “No”. In the BT response, 46 per cent said “No” while another 42 per cent said “Yes”. In the March 8th poll, the result on this same question was as follows: 79 per cent “N” from RCB and 67 per cent “No” from BT.
Some BT respondents said while there was progress, it was not enough.
The improvement in the Government’s rating of tackling corruption, comparing both polls, comes a few days after the release of a scathing report by a 3-member committee probing loss-making SriLankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka, which recommended criminal action against the airline’s former chairman, CEO and other senior officials.The poll was also positive for the Government in terms of two other questions: “Has abuse of power reduced?” and “Has the Government succeeded so far in its 100-day programme to reduce cost of living (COL)?” On abuse of power reduction, the BT poll gave an 88 per cent heads-up (“Yes”) vote while 76 per cent of RCB respondents said “Yes”. On COL, 81 per cent (RCB) and 75 per cent (BT) agreed that the Government had reduced living costs.
Respondents were not pleased with the reduction in presidential powers or the progress of electoral reforms. On Thursday the Government presented the 19th Amendment to the Constitution curbing the powers of the president.
However several respondents said that the President has shown his willingness to reduce powers and was adopting a very low profile.
Respondents were also not happy with the overall progress of the 100-day programme to tackle corruption.
Respondents in the BT poll included business professionals, lawyers, accountants, CEOs, students, etc while street interviews by the RCB were conducted amongst the working population and others.