[05 May 2008]
SANA'A, May 05 (Saba)- A poll showed on Monday that 78.3 percent of the respondents had expressed support to the upcoming elections of the mayor of the capital Sana'a and governors of the provinces, which to be held on 17 may, while 21.5 percent said that the elections have no significance.

More than half of the respondents-53.8 percent- refuse the idea of electing a woman for governor even if she meets the qualities they favor. On the contrary, 43.3 percent of the respondents said they will vote for a woman to be a governor if she meets the qualities they favor. However, 2.3 percent of the respondents are indecisive about electing a woman as a governor.

The recent survey conducted by the Yemen Polling Center (YPC) included more than 600 respondents who belong to the education class of the society in six provinces of the country.

Accordant to the poll results, the respondents who support the election justified the significance of the upcoming election by voting for "the enhancement of democratic system" with 23.5 percent. Next comes those who believe that "governor elections will contribute in moving the power to the local authority" with 17.2 percent. The reminder group believes that "the elections will expand the public participation".

However, those who believe there's no significance of the election justified their attitude by voting for "the state is not serious a real democracy" with 26.6 percent of one fifth of the total number of the respondents. And 23.4 percent of this group believes "the winners in election will be those favored by the authority". Moreover, 19.5 percent of the same group chose "the election is meant to beautify the image of the regime" and the reminders portion represented by 16.4 percent think "the election is meant to reduce the political tension".

The best candidate for governor

The respondents were asked to choose three qualities they like to see in the candidates for governors. "Competency and honesty" is given the highest votes by the respondents by 31.4 percent. Second comes "Higher qualification" with 27.6 percent and that the "governor is from the same province" with 24.4 percent of the votes.

Woman as governor

The majority of the respondents who are against "woman as a governor" believe that the "society will be appreciate it". A second sub-group of the respondents feels that "nominating woman for governor contradicts the Islamic religion". However, a smaller sub-group believes that "men can be better governors than women".

Men represented 75.7 percent of the total surveyed people and 82 percent of the surveyed sample falls between the age group of 20-39 years and 16.9 percent represents the age group of 40-59 years old.

YA

Saba