60 percent Myanmarese in favour of Suu Kyi's party: Survey

Yangon, March 31 (IANS) A day before the crucial elections in Myanmar, around 60 percent of respondents in a countrywide survey said they will vote for Nobel laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

According to Mizzima News, a poll was conducted among 362 respondents by the Community Response Group in Yangon. Most respondents said they believed progress has been made in Myanmar's politics over the past year and that the social-economic situation was improving.

Around 70 percent said they were aware of the policies of their favourite party and candidate.

More than 90 percent of voters aged 18 to 25 said they were ready to turn out in large numbers for the voting.

Among ethnic groups, Indians, Chinese and Rakhine see the most improvement during the past year. The Kayah ethnic group says there has been "zero improvement".

By occupation, taxi drivers, students and staff from non-governmental organisations see the most improvement over the past year.

The survey involved 56 percent males and 44 percent female.

Among the ethnic groups, there was Bamar, Kayin, Chinese, Rakhine, Indians, Mon, Chin, Shan, Kayah and and Kachin.

A whopping 85 percent said they were aware of the election and planned to vote.

Asked which political party they planned to vote for, 60 percent of the respondents said NLD, 32 percent said the government-backed United Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and other percent spoke in favour of others.

Asked why they chose that party, 45 percent said because of party policy and candidate, 23 percent said because of party activities and 19 percent said the reason was qualification and capability of candidate.

Asked which party they believed would win the election, 58 percent said the NLD while 31 percent said USDP.

The survey showed that the higher the education level attained, the larger the percentage of people who planned to vote, ranging from 100 per cent for people with post-graduate degrees to about seven percent for people who said they were illiterate.

A total of 157 candidates from 17 parties are contesting seats for the Hluttaw (parliament). Of these, 129 will contest 37 seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw (lower house), while 22 will compete for six seats in the Amyotha Hluttaw (upper house), the Bangkok Post reported.

More than 150 international observers from the European Union, the US, Canada, Australia, India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) will be monitoring the casting of ballots.