Two surveys conducted by the University of Colombo and the University of Kelaniya on the outcome of the upcoming presidential election have produced conflicting.
According to the survey done by the University of Colombo, Common Candidate Maithripala Sirisena will win the presidential election with a percentage of 53%.
The assessment was made by taking into consideration the Sinhalese voter base while predicting that the Muslim and Tamil votes would be equally divided between the candidates. It revealed that under these conditions Maithripala Sirisena would be ahead by 200,000 votes. The survey was conducted by a team led by Dr. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan and Dr. D.S. Jayaweera.
The survey also revealed that 28% of those who cast their votes for President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2010 would vote for the common candidate at this election while 11% of those who voted for the incumbent were undecided as to whom to vote.
The survey also added 38% of first-time voters would vote for President Mahinda Rajapaksa and 33% for Mr. Sirisena while 13 to 15% had not decided on their choice of candidate.
Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the University of Kelaniya stated that President Mahinda Rajapaksa would win the forthcoming presidential election with a percentage of 53 %. The survey was led by Dr. Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa, Head of the Dept. of Mass Communication Unit of the Kelaniya University
According to the survey, Common Opposition Candidate Maithripala Sirisena will obtain 44% of votes while 3% of voters may abstain from voting he added. He further said that 5% had not responded at all.
“This survey,” Dr. Piyadasa said, “ has been conducted in two stages. One has been done before giving nominations under 'Most Popular Political Character'. Under the second phase, which was done after commencement of election campaigns, 5000 voters were selected randomly covering 25 districts. The survey was conducted in Sinhala and Tamil mediums basing the new electoral register according to ethnicity, gender, population composition, profession and age.”
