- Around 4 out of 10 Filipino voters expect cheating to occur in the 2016 elections
- This was revealed in the latest Pulse Asia survey on voter expectation
- Vote buying is expected to be the most common form of cheating on election day
A recent survey revealed that almost 4 out of 10 Filipinos expect that cheating will occur in the upcoming national and local elections this May.
The Pulse Asia survey conducted between January 24 to 28 showed that approximately 39 percent or “a sizeable plurality of Filipinos” expressed their belief that there will be cheating in the upcoming polls.
In contrast, only 32 percent said they are unsure whether cheating will occur or not, and an even fewer percentage of 29 percent expressed optimism that the elections will be free from cheating.
Majority of the respondents which was around 65 percent, who expect that cheating would occur, said that vote buying would be the most rampant form of election fraud. This was followed by PCOS machine tampering at 37 percent, and the so-called “dagdag bawas [adding and subtracting]” scheme at 32 percent.
Other methods of cheating respondents expect include flying voters, “hakot” or the hoarding of voters in certain areas, replacing ballots inserted in the PCOS machines, threatening poll officers and watchers, as well as actually stealing the PCOS machines.
Voters in Mindanao were most likely to believe that cheating would occur with 56 percent of respondents from the area saying so. They are followed by voters from the Visayas at 42 percent, Luzon at 31 percent, and Metro Manila at only 29 percent.
Voters most likely to believe that the 2016 polls will be “clean” come from the Class E at 51 percent, and from the geographic areas of Metro Manila at 59 percent, and the Visayas at 56 percent.
It was also noted by Pulse Asia, as earlier reported by ABS-CBN News, that the January survey did not differ much from voter expectation during the last national elections in 2013. The polling firm, however, noted that there was higher ambivalence among voters this time around.
A total of 1,800 registered voters 18 years old and above were interviewed for the survey, with results posing a ± 2% margin of error at the 95 percent confidence level.
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