Lahore: Despite sudden popularity gain for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in about past one or two years and its biting criticism against the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), the strategy seems to get foiled as PML-N is currently ranked the most popular party in the country and PTI faces an astonishing decline in its reputation, a survey has told.
International Republican Institute (IRI) carried out the survey between July and August 2012 and put in front the question that if the elections for the National Assembly were to be held next week, who will get the maximum number of votes. The results revealed a 3.7 per cent rise in PML-N’s popularity and a shocking 22.6% decline in PTI’s vote bank.
The survey was conducted from as many as 6,001 respondents and compared results from an earlier survey carried out in February 2012.
According to the IRI survey, 28 per cent of the participants wished to vote for PML-N, closely followed by PTI at 24 per cent. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) secured the third spot with 14 per cent votes whereas Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) polled 3 per cent.
The survey further told that 91 per cent of the people believed that Pakistan was heading in the wrong direction. The people consider inflation and energy crisis to be the two most important issues being faced by Pakistan.