Same agency predicted 43 pc turnout in civic polls

Lalitpur, May 23 :

While the House of Representatives stripped the king of all his “royal” powers through the historic proclamation, a research institute today claimed that 26 per cent of the population favours direct rule by the king as a legitimate government.

“Only eight per cent of all respondents support the formulation of a new constitution through a constituent assembly,” the institute states, adding that merely 15 per cent Nepalis actually understand what a constituent assembly is.

The survey on Nepal’s contemporary situation, conducted between January 5 to 25 by Interdisciplinary Analysts was released here today.

The same institute had conducted a survey on municipal election prior to the February 8 polls and predicted that 43 per cent Nepalis would participate in it. However, the civic polls actually witnessed a poor participation at around 21 per cent.

According to the latest survey, only 57.1 per cent Nepalis say democracy is suitable for the country while 16.7 per cent think that it is not suitable. It adds that 14 per cent of Kathmanduites see democracy as an unsuitable system.

The survey report states that 74 per cent of those who know about the Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) formed by the king-led government approved its indictment of high-ranking individuals in corruption cases.

The report also claimed that the Nepalis were ambivalent about the king’s active role in politics since February 1, 2005.

The report concludes that the people want a place for the monarchy, political parties and the Maoists in the political structure, and want all three to sort it out differences through mutual talks.

“These responses reveal the Nepali people’s clear preference for a multi-party democracy with constitutional monarchy over other systems of governance,” the report remarks.

Political analyst Krishna Hachhethu criticised the report, pointing out problems in clustering the sample areas.