The electorate voiced out their sentiments regarding their most dreaded fears in next Monday's national and local elections.
Harassment or intimidation done by incumbent politicians and their men topped the "fear factor" of the electorate during a random survey conducted yesterday by the top-rated Radyo Merkado," over dyRD.
The independent weekly radio survey asked its listeners on the "things they fear would happen come Election Day?"
Some 34% of the respondents said harassment of voters would be the most dangerous thing expected to happen in the May 10 polls.
Majority of the respondents who noted harassment as their first fear, cited the dreaded City Task Force created by Mayor Dan Lim in the city which will be used as his private army and goons to demand votes from the electorate during the May 10 elections.
Twenty-two percent of those who fear "harassment on election day" as the primary concern cited the well entrenched members of the dreaded task force in the city who are already assigned in the city's 15 barangays. In fact, their mobility is already assured after Mayor Lim purchased "spider cabs for them" since he created the group which he called as the City Monitoring Team.
Even during the campaign trail, supporters of mayoralty bet Jose Antonio Veloso already reported of harassment made by the Task Force members to those who will attend his nightly caucus in the barangays.
Propaganda materials of congressional bet, former Gov. Rene Relampagos and mayoralty bet Veloso were ordered detached by task force members from tricycle units amid threat they will not be renewed of their city hall permits.
Veloso, during a radio interview, said the intimidation will even worsen on Election Day. He forecast that the task force members will be tapped by the mayor to block some of their supporters from going to the precincts which Lim did in the previous elections.
Some respondents, on the other hand, also expressed fear of the worsening intimidation in some towns in the second district in the congressional race contested by Gov. Erico Aumentado and Trinidad mayor Judith Cajes, wife of last-termer solon Roberto Cajes.
The survey showed that next to harassment, the electorate expects massive vote buying on Election Day. Some 29 percent of the respondents cited vote buying as a major election violation which is expected to be at its peak on the eve of and on the Election Day itself.
As of this time, the town of Loay was reported to have the most "expensive" vote buying which already started during the campaign trail. The mayoralty race is contested by re-electionist Mayor May Lim-Imboy and Willy Flores of Alona Kew Resort.
Some respondents revealed that special operations locally called as "pusil" will also be applied during Monday's election in the hotly contested mayoralty races in the city and towns.
"Pusil," according to the informant-respondent is done by tough guys supporting the mayoralty bet who will intimidate household members not to vote, and at the same time, will dole out few thousands of pesos in exchange for their compliance of their request for them not to go to their voting precinct.
Nine percent of the respondents in the radio survey expressed fear for computer malfunction and possible power interruption on Election Day up to the counting of votes.
Other concerns of respondents on election: insistence of some party leaders to expose the voters ballots through "internal agreement", lack of transportation in the hinterlands and a possible people power in the event the so-called "people's choice" might not win in the electoral counting.
No comments:
Post a Comment