February 21; Public�s verdict on quality of democratic governance in Pakistan in the past 5 years is a mixture of �applause,� �appreciation� and �reprimand,� as the PILDAT-Gallup nationwide public opinion survey revealed today.

At a PILDAT-Gallup Seminar titled Public Verdict on Democracy: 2008-2013, survey findings were shared.

According to the of public opinion, based on a nationally representative sample of over 9,500 men (approximately 5000) and women (approximately 4500), the Top 3 scorers or recipient of Applause are:

1. Media: +43%
2. Supreme Court: +32%
3. Provincial Authority: +14%

The Middle 3 as the recipients of Appreciation are:

1. Effectiveness of the Cabinet: +12%
2. Democratic Checks on Military: +10%
3. Effectiveness of Parliament: +7%

The bottom 4 as recipients of Reprimand by public are:

1. Failure to bring about law observing civil Executive: -1%
2. Respect for Human Rights: -2%
3. Credible prospects of Fair Elections: -5%
4. Protection of National Sovereignty: -20%

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, President PILDAT, said that as the present Government and Parliament complete five-year term in 2013, PILDAT joined hands with Gallup Pakistan to hold a popular jury of the average Pakistani citizens, the voters, to give their verdict on the performance of Pakistan's first democratic experience which lasted for 5 years.

The report titled Public Verdict on Democracy 2008-2013 unveiled at the seminar, presents analysis of the results of a nationally representative survey on performance of democracy in Pakistan during the past 5 years. To provide comparative analysis of the popular survey result, the report also compares these with the opinions of the expert jury, consisting of PILDAT Democracy Assessment Group (DAG) on the performance of democracy in Pakistan during the period.

Explaining the comparison on the verdicts of the two Jurys, namely the popular jury and the jury of eminent persons or experts, Dr. Ijaz Shafi Gilani, Chairman Gallup Pakistan, said that while the popular jury is less critical on the whole about the quality of democratic governance during the past 5 years - its overall verdict has a score of -22%; while the overall score given by the Expert Jury is -30%.

He said that the sharpest difference between Expert verdict and Popular verdict is on the issue of FAIR ELECTION PROSPECTS. The popular verdict is quite sceptical about the prospect of a fair election in 2013; it gives it a net score of -5 per cent. On the other hand the Expert verdict is quite hopeful that 2013 will produce a fair election; it gives that possibility a net score of +70 per cent. He said that in our view the Expert Jury has taken into account the marked progress achieved by the Election Commission(ECP) through instituting a range of safeguards against electoral fraud. The popular verdict, it seems, did not count in that progress while giving its verdict.

Mr. Shahid Hamid, Senior Advocate Supreme Court, former Governor Punjab, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Moinuddin Haider, former Governor Sindh, Justice (Retd.) Nasira Iqbal, Mr. Ghazi Salahuddin, Analyst and Dr. Hasan-Askari Rizvi, Defence and Political Analyst, also spoke on the occasion.