More than 50 percent of people surveyed earlier this month by a Paris-based opinion poll agency said they were aware of the upcoming elections but did not know what the polls will be for.
Surveyors from the French Institute for Statistics, Opinion Polls and Research in Cambodia said although respondents were aware an election will be held in July, half were unaware they would be voting for new parliamentarians.
The institute talked to 1,621 people from a variety of backgrounds and occupations living within a 50-km radius of Phnom Penh, said Chin Socheat, the deputy director of the institute.
“Unlike the Untac election, the present Cambodian government has not undertaken any information campaigns to inform the population about the nature…of the election,” he said Thursday.
However, 85 percent were intending to vote on election day, the survey showed, with that figure rising to 90 percent for female respondents. Of the total sample, 64 percent expressed desire for a change in government. Of 46 civil servants questioned, only six wanted the political situation to remain the same.
The margin of error in the sample is estimated at 1 percent to 2 percent, said Khong Vasanthy, president of the institute, who came from France to oversee the survey. But the sample is so small the margin is difficult to estimate, she added.
