SWS: 26% of Pinoys to watch vote-counting

At least one out of four Filipinos plans to keep tabs on the counting of votes in the country's first automated elections on May 10. This was the result of a pre-election survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) from Feb. 24 to 28, but whose results were released only Friday. "(The survey showed) 26% plan to watch vote-counting, 23% attend political rallies, and 20% join organizations for orderly and clean elections," it said in its website. Other planned activities for the May 2010 elections included being a watcher for a political candidate (15 percent), putting up posters for politicians (11 percent), actively campaigning for a political candidate (9 percent), and being a member of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) (3 percent). SWS also said that in three pre-election surveys of 2007, to watch vote-counting and to attend political rallies were also the top planned activities for the May 2007 national elections. The February 2010 survey showed the intention to watch the counting of votes on May 10, 2010 is highest in Balance Luzon [Luzon minus Metro Manila] (31 percent), while intention to attend political rallies to listen to candidates' platforms is highest in Mindanao (37 percent). Those who plan to serve in organizations that will help in having an orderly and clean election is slightly higher in Mindanao (25 percent) and Metro Manila (21 percent) than in Balance Luzon (18 percent) and Visayas (17 percent). Intention to be a watcher for political candidates is slightly higher in Metro Manila (23 percent) and Mindanao (20 percent) compared to Balance Luzon (12 percent) and Visayas (9 percent). About 23 percent in Mindanao intend to put up posters of candidates, the highest across all four areas. It is 8 percent in Balance Luzon, 7 percent in the Visayas, and 6 percent in Metro Manila. Class patterns Intention to watch the counting of votes is slightly higher among classes ABC (27 percent) than in classes D (23 percent) and E (22 percent). Intention to attend political parties is slightly higher among class E (29 percent) than classes A, B, C (23 percent) and D (21 percent). Intention to put up posters is also slightly higher among class E (17 percent) compared to classes D (10 percent) and ABC (7 percent). Those from classes D (15 percent) and E (16 percent) are twice as likely as classes ABC (8 percent) to be a watcher for candidates. Plans to serve in organizations for orderly and clean elections is slightly higher among class D (21 percent) than classes E (17 percent) and ABC (13 percent). The February 2010 Social Weather Survey was conducted from February 24 to 28, using face-to-face interviews of 2,100 registered voters, divided into random samples of 300 in Metro Manila and 600 each in Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Sampling error margins of ±2.2 percent for national percentages, ±6 percent for Metro Manila, and ±4 percent for Balance Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, applied to the survey. The area estimates were weighted using Comelec data on registered voters as of January 2010 to obtain the national estimates. SWS said its survey questions about the voters' planned activities for the coming elections are non-commissioned. — LBG, GMANews.TV