Election 2008

Fresh voters to choose progressive politicians

Voter survey in Rajshahi finds

22 December 2008, 18:00 PM

Abu Kalam, Rajshahi

Fresh voters of Rajshahi city want to vote for the progressive minded candidates in the upcoming parliament election, says a survey report of Sachetan Nagarik Committee (SANAC) of Rajshahi. The voters taking part in a recent survey conducted by Sachetan Nagarik Committee (SANAC) of Rajshahi expressed their support for politicians and said they would ignore businessmen and retired bureaucrats in the upcoming election. SANAC presented the report at a press conference at their office in the city on Friday. Earlier, SANAC in association with Youth Engagement and Support (YES) group conducted a survey on 412 people including 303 fresh voters. Among the people taking part in the survey are students, women, service holders and nine businessmen in Rajshahi city. The fresh voters hoped that the parliament speaker will perform his duty neutrally and they wanted women as speaker and/or deputy speaker. A total of 79.89 percent voters wanted deputy speakers from opposition party and 86.04 percent voters did not support walkout during parliament sessions. Hozzatul Islam Sohag, member of YES group, read out the survey report during the conference and mentioned that all of the voters demanded trial and punishment of war criminals. The fresh voters hoped that corrupt people should be brought under trial and political parties should give more importance to patriotism, avoiding party interest. The young voters also expected that political parties will not use religious sentiment in politics and they will ensure women's empowerment. Prof Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan Sajal, joint secretary of SANAC, SANAC member Prof Abdus Salam, Hassan Millat, YES group convener Monira Rahman Mithi, TIB programme officer Rafiqul Islam and YES group member Iftia Ohab Taki were also present during the conference.