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Nationwide respondents rate
10 out of 27 governance indicators of the Federal Government positively
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compared to only 6 indicators rated positively in 2015
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Governance in Punjab is rated
the highest across nationwide respondents with 67% approval rating followed
by Governance of KP at 38%; Governance in Balochistan at 26% while Sindh
is rated the lowest nationwide with 25% approval rating of its Governance
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Respondents from KP rate KP
governance most positively on 18 out of 25 governance indicators; Punjab
respondents rate 15 out of 25 indicators positively, followed by Balochistan
at 12 out of 25 while respondents from Sindh rate only 2 indicators out
of 25 positively
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Only 35% of respondents are
hopeful of an improved performance by the ECP in the next General Election,
compared to 38% in 2015
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Nationwide respondents term
terrorism as the biggest current issue followed by inflation and energy
crisis; in 2015 energy crisis was rated as the biggest issue
October 25; Public Approval Ratings for the
Federal Government, though has shown improvement from 2015, remains negative
on most governance indicators as per PILDAT’s Public Opinion
Poll on the Quality of Governance and Democracy during the third year of the
Currently Elected Federal and Provincial Governments, June 2015-May 2016.
The Federal Government has received positive Approval Ratings on 10 out of
27 Governance indicators compared to 2015 Public Opinion Poll by PILDAT in
which respondents rated positively 6 out of 25 indicators.
These public views are part of a PILDAT Nationwide
Public Opinion Poll on the Quality of Governance and Democracy in Pakistan
upon the completion of the third year of the current Federal and Provincial
Governments. This poll was conducted between August 11-August 31,
2016 and included 3,610 Pakistani citizens from
rural and urban areas and 85 districts across Pakistan.
The Federal Government received its highest
Approval Rating for the Governance indicator on Immunization of Children
(77%). At the lowest rung was Management of Unemployment
for which Federal Government received the lowest Approval Rating at 31%. The
Approval Rating of the Federal Government has crossed the 50% mark and became
positive on 4 Governance indicators since 2015 namely: Development
Programmes with approval rating of 54% in 2016 compared
to 44% in 2015; Use of Technologies for Better Governance
rated positively by 54% respondents in 2016 compared to 48%
in 2015; Foreign Policy Management with 54%
approval rating in 2016 compared to 44% in 2015 and Tax Collection
which received 53% approval rating in 2016 compared to 38%
in 2015.
A comparative assessment
of Federal Government's Approval Rating on individual Governance indicators
is given in Table 1:
Table
1: Federal Government�s Comparative Scorecard (National Evaluation) 2016
Legend: Green colour depicts Approval Rating for the Indicator
is more than 50% while Red colour indicates Approval Rating for the indicator
is less than 50%.
Public Perception of Performance
of Premier slides
58% of the nationwide respondents have
termed Prime Minister’s performance positively in 2016 while 41% have
rated it negatively. This has seen a sharp decline of 15 percentage points
from 73% approval rating in 2015.
Figure 1: Public Perception of the Performance of
the Prime Minister
![](http://www.pildat.org/events/16-10-24/img/fig1.jpg)
Governance in Punjab is rated the highest
among the four provinces across nationwide respondents with 67% approval rating.
Governance in KP has received second position with 38% nationwide respondents
rating it positively. Governance in Balochistan has been rated positively
by 26% respondents while governance of Sindh is rated the lowest nationwide
with 25% approval rating (Table 2).
When respondents were asked to evaluate performance
of their own province on individual Governance indicators, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
received the most positive Approval Ratings for 18 out of 25 indicators (in
2015 the KP residents had rated 17 out of 25 indicators positively). KP is
followed by Punjab where Punjab residents have positively rated 15 out of
25 indicators (in 2015 the residents had rated 8 out of 25 indicators positively).
Balochistan has bagged the third position with Balochistan respondents positively
rating 12 out of 25 indicators. Governance in Balochistan has received the
highest improvements in public opinion in the past one year as the respondents
from Balochistan had only rated 1 out 25 indicators positively in 2015. For
the second consecutive year, Sindh once again is at the bottom where Sindh
respondents have only rated 2 indicators out of 25 positively. The highest
Approval Rating for any provincial Governance indicator was accorded to the
Punjab for Immunization of Children at 83%. The lowest Approval
Ratings of 12% were accorded to Sindh on the Governance indicators of Poverty
Alleviation and Management of Unemployment.
Table
2: How did nationwide respondents rate governance in provinces?
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Table
3 shows a comparison between province-wise Approval Ratings accorded for each
individual Governance indicator in 2016 from the residents of each province.
Table
3: Provincial Governance Approval Ratings 2016
Legend: Green colour depicts Approval Rating for the Indicator
is more than 50% while Red colour indicates Approval Rating for the indicator
is less than 50%.
Figure
2: Number of Indicators Rated Positively for Each Provincial Government
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Public Opinion on the Overall
Quality of Democracy remains positive
While majority of the respondents (54%)
nationwide remained confident and positive about the quality of democracy
in Pakistan in 2016, this has seen a decline by 4 percentage points from 2015
when 58% respondents rated it positively.
Public opinion on Quality of Democracy was
gauged using 8 Indicators out of which 5 indicators have received positive
public approval ratings. These include:
- Government’s
Performance at Ensuring Freedom of Media and it Operations Within Confines
of the Law: 64%
- Media’s Performance in
Ensuring a Balanced and Responsible Coverage: 51%
- Performance of Federal Government
in Democratic Governance 55%
- Overall Quality of Democracy:
54%
- Transfers of Powers at the Local
Level: 51%
In comparison, following indicators have
received a low public opinion rating:
- Effectiveness of the Federal
Cabinet: 47%
- Respect for Human Rights: 48%
- Sovereignty of State: 48%
It is interesting to note that there is a
divergence of 13 percentage points between Government’s performance
at ensuring freedom of the media, and the media’s performance in ensuring
balanced and responsible coverage. A public Approval Rating of 64%, the highest
amongst all Core Democracy Indicators, shows that the although respondents
are highly satisfied by the Government’s performance in ensuring media’s
freedom, their perception of a balanced and responsible coverage in turn by
the media itself hangs in balance (an Approval Rating of 51%) and can swing
either way.
The overall picture points to a continued
trust in democracy but one that is nuanced and qualified. It is pertinent
to point out the Public Perception is neither highly Satisfied nor Dissatisfied
on any of the Indicators as the highest Approval Rating goes up to 64% and
the lowest goes down to 47%, pointing to a very large proportion of Respondents
who are sitting on the fence and may change their opinion based on the next
2 years of the current democratic and electoral cycle.
Table 4:
Public Opinion Scorecard on Quality of Democracy: 2016
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The Election Commission of Pakistan continues
to suffer from negative public perception as only 35% of nationwide respondents
are hopeful of an improved performance by the ECP in the next General Election.
This has seen a 3 percentage point decline since 2015 when 38% believed the
ECP would improve its performance in conducting future General Election. 28%
Respondents have serious doubts about the Election Commission and believe
that the ECP’s performance will fare worse in the next elections. 32%
of all respondents believe that the ECP’s performance at holding free
and fair elections in the country will be no different from holding earlier
elections.
Biggest Current Issue Facing Pakistan
is seen to be Terrorism
The biggest current issue seen to be facing Pakistan in 2016
was Terrorism by 23% of all respondents. In 2015 Public Opinion
Poll, the greatest issue was termed to be Energy Crises by
25% of all respondents. Inflation and Unemployment
had been seen as amongst the greatest issues in 2015 and continue to be seen
that way in 2016. It is noteworthy that Corruption has made
its way into the top five issues facing Pakistan as 12% of all respondents
term it as the biggest problem in the country.
Table 5: Biggest Current Issue Facing
Pakistan
![](http://www.pildat.org/events/16-10-24/img/tab5_thumb.jpg)
In the provincial breakdown on what is perceived
as the biggest issue facing the country, respondents of Balochistan have termed
terrorism to be the biggest current issue (according to 28% of the province�s
respondents). Respondents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have termed Energy Crisis
(according to 29% of the province�s respondents) as the biggest issue. Respondents
from Punjab have also viewed Terrorism as the biggest current issue (according
to 26% of the province's respondents), while respondents from Sindh highlighted
inflation as the biggest current issue facing the country (according to 22%
of the province�s respondents).
When asked what are the chances that Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif, during his current tenure, will be able to perform
well in solving some of the key issues, the highest 58% respondents believed
that the Premier could improve the economy. Least number of survey respondents,
i.e. 25%, believed that Prime Minister could improve relations with India
during his tenure.
Table 6: Possibility of Prime Minister
Solving Country�s Problems in his Tenure
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Police is the least Trusted Institution
Police enjoys the lowest public trust
as only 18% nationwide respondents have rated it positively. Trust in police
has seen a 14 percentage point decline in 1 year as 32% respondents in 2015
had shown trust in Police. On the other hand, Armed Forces are termed as the
most trusted institution with 76% approval rating in 2016 compared to 75%
in 2015. Figure 2 depicts trust in State institutions:
Figure
3: Trust in Institutions
It is interesting to note that the Armed Forces
(Approval Rating of 73% in 2014, 75% in 2015, and 76% in 2016), followed by
the Supreme Court/High Courts (Approval Rating of 62% in 2014, 63% in 2015,
and 62% in 2016) have consistently remained the most trusted institutions
in the country over the course of the past three years.
Detailed Reports can be accessed at
the following links :
Public
Opinion on Quality of Governance 2016
Public
Opinion on Quality of Democracy 2016
Methodology
The PILDAT nationwide poll was conducted during August 11-August
31, 2016 following the completion of the third year of the Federal
and Provincial Governments in office. The respondents for the survey included 3,610
citizens from rural and urban areas from 85 districts of all the
four Provinces of Pakistan, using Systematic Random Sampling Approach. The
fieldwork for the report was done in face-to-face interviews in respondents’
homes. The sample is also based on a cross-section of various age, income,
education and language groups of the population. Error margin is estimated
to be approximately 3-5% at 95% confidence level. The profile of the selected
sample matches closely with the profile of the overall population of Pakistan.
For a detailed comparison and explanation, please see the chapter on Methodology
Disclaimer
PILDAT’s Public Opinion Poll on the Quality of Democracy and Governance
is separate from its independent assessments of the quality of governance
and democracy, which are reports based on the analysis of data collected along
the lines of indigenously designed indicators about the performance under
various parameters, both at the Federal and Provincial level.
The Public Opinion Poll is an independent
initiative of PILDAT and no Provincial or Federal Government has commissioned
or sponsored this initiative.
References:
(1).
Positive Approval Ratings are calculated by combining percentage of responses
under the categories of �Very Good� and �Good.� Those indicators that receive
equal or more than 50% combined positive responses are termed as Positive
Approval ratings.