GB Election 2020: Surveys reveal PTI ahead of PPP, PML-N

KARACHI: The upcoming Gilgit Baltistan Elections will be a very close contest between PTI and PPP, reveal two surveys conducted by Gallup Pakistan and Pulse Consultant, putting the ruling party ahead of PPP, whereas, PML-N was placed at the third position.

According to a news report published in The News, the surveys unveiled PM Imran Khan as the most popular leader in GB followed by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Nawaz Sharif. Around 30% of voters believe elections will be transparent and free of rigging.

Read more: Meet the three women contesting general polls in Gilgit-Baltistan

When asked about which political party they would vote for on 15th Nov (the Election Day), the 27% of Gallup respondents said they would vote for PTI, 24% said PPP, and 14% said PML-N.

On the other hand, 35% of Pulse Consultant respondents said they would vote for PTI, 26% said PPP and 14% said PML-N. Gallup survey shows there is a gap of only 3% between the PTI and PPP as the first choice of voters. However, in the Pulse survey, the gap between the two leading parties is 9% but the trend is the same – PTI is the first choice, PPP second and PML-N third.

However, most of the results would depend on the electoral dynamics of the Election Day and the voters turn out as who is able to assist their voters to come out and vote for them

Read more: GB election commission issues schedule for Nov 15 polls

Most popular leader

When asked who was their favourite leader, 42% of Gallup respondents named Imran Khan, 17% said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and 15% said it was Nawaz Sharif. Only 3% named Maryam Nawaz as the most favourite leader.

Pulse Consultant also received almost the same answer to a similar question with 41% naming Imran Khan as the most popular leader, 23% said it was Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and 16% named Nawaz Sharif as the most popular leader.

The respondents were asked which political party they would vote for if national elections were to be held today (after giving GB right to vote in Pakistan wide national elections). 35% said they would vote for PTI, 31% named PPP and 14% said they would vote for PML-N.

Read more: PTI will clean sweep Gilgit-Baltistan elections, says PM Imran Khan

Free and fair elections

The respondents were asked if the upcoming provincial election would be fair and without any rigging. As per the Pulse survey, 29% of voters believed the elections will be transparent, 51% said they could not say anything while 20% said they will not be transparent.

As per the Gallup survey, 31% said elections would be completely fair, 29% said they would be fair to some extent, 28% said they could not say anything, 7% said elections will be fair to some extent while 5% said they would not be fair at all.

Major problems

Load shedding, lack of hospitals, poor education, poor infrastructure and clean drinking water were the major problems cited by respondents of Gilgit-Baltistan in the two surveys.

Gallup survey shows that 66% of Gilgit-Baltistan locals are in favour of converting GB into a province, 28% were against it.