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US firm conducts opinion survey in Azerbaijan ahead of referendum

16 September 2016 11:35 (UTC +04:00)

Baku – APA. American polling firm Arthur J. Finkelstein & Associates, in cooperation with the Citizen's Labor Rights Protection League, conducted a public opinion survey in Azerbaijan on the eve of referendum due on September 26 this year.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev earlier signed an order on holding a referendum Sept. 26 for making amendments to the country’s Constitution.

The main objective of the survey was to find out the willingness of the population to vote on the eve of the referendum, the activity of people in the political life of the country and public awareness on the referendum.

The survey was conducted among 1,000 respondents in different parts of Azerbaijan. 73.7% of them are from major cities, 10.1% from small ones, and the rest from towns and villages. 49.6% of the respondents were women, 50.4% were men. The survey was conducted based on the population’s age statistics. 35% were citizens 30-39 years old, 25.8% were18-29 years old, 16.6% were 40-49 years old, 7.6% were 50-59 years old, 1.5% were above 70.

Questions in the survey sheet can be grouped as follows:

1. The level of public awareness on the referendum

2. Attitude to the country’s current economic situation

3. The population’s level of political activity

4. Attitude to the additions and amendments to the Constitution.

As for the question “To what extent are you interested in elections and referendums held in Azerbaijan”, the majority of the respondents (74.2%) answered that they always take part in the vote, 82.9% of the respondents said they will take part in the referendum on September 26, 2016.

So, asked "Will you take part in the referendum?", 76.8% said "Of course, I will take part", and 6.1% said " I will probably take part."

Answering the question on "Do you have any information on upcoming referendum to be held on September 26?", 95 % of the respondents said “yes”. It shows that the propaganda on the referendum campaign was well-organized and people are highly interested in the political process.

The survey revealed that people support the amendments to the Constitution. 92.8 % of the respondents are in favor of the constitutional amendments to be put for the September 26.

According to the analysis, we can conclude that the ongoing reforms in the country do not negative impact on the living standards of the population.

Thus, as for the question on "What is the most important problem in Azerbaijan?", 77.4 % of the respondents said “the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict”, 5.8% - “employment” and 5.3% - “economy”. 91.4% of the respondents said that the situation is getting better as a result of the activities being carried out in Azerbaijan.

As regards the question "Which political force did you support during the parliamentary elections in 2015?", 92.8% of the respondents said they voted for candidates of ruling New Azerbaijan Party. This opinion was confirmed in responses to other questions as well.

Moreover, 98.4% of the respondents think that the authorities protect people from terrorism and 95.9% believe that Azerbaijan is the most stable country in the region.

In the survey paper, the proposed constitutional amendments were grouped in the following order and presented in the form of blocks. Results are as follows.

86.4% of the respondents said they agree with changes to the structure of executive power of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 88.9% -- in relation to security and defense sector, 88.9% -- in relation to the sphere of human rights, 84.2% -- in relation to

the changes in the structure of the executive power of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 88.9% in security and defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 88.9% in human rights and their protection and 84.2% in the sphere of social welfare.

Based on the results of the survey, it can be said that the willingness of the authorities and population to the September 26 referendum and public awareness are satisfactory. We hope that the results of an exit poll to be held during the September 26 referendum will coincide with that of our survey.