Voter support for former President Yameen has increased over the past month, with 18% of voters saying they would vote for the jailed former president if there was an election tomorrow and he was able to stand.
These are the results of the latest monthly opinion poll by the Baani Centre for International Policy, a Maldives-based, independent think tank.
Yameen’s support has increased from the 10% support he garnered in Baani’s June opinion poll.
The poll, conducted with a 5 percent margin of error, showed that support for President Solih also improved over the past month, from 15% in June to 19% in July.
Former President Nasheed’s popularity dipped from 6% in June to 4% in July, while support for Gasim Ibrahim vanished in July, leaving him on 0%.
With undecided voters still stubbornly high, at 47% in July (down from 52% in June), the election still remains inherently difficult to predict.
Since Baani started conducting the monthly tracker poll in April, those saying they are undecided on who they will vote for have remained well above 40%.
The Elections Commission will announce the list of candidates in early August. According to Baani, it will be interesting to see if the number of undecided voters decreases once people are sure of who will stand in the election, or whether the outcome of the election will remain highly uncertain right up until voting day.
Baani’s August opinion poll will shed some light on this question.
Source: Baani Centre for International Policy
