Kazakhstan’s Strategy Social and Political Studies Centre will conduct public polling leading up to the early April 26 presidential election and exit polling on the day of the vote, according to a report by BNews.kz. The results will be broadcast on the Commercial Television Channel (KTK) and distributed to other media.
Kanat Sakhariyanov, Director General of KTK.
“We feelthat it is important to take part in the election campaign and we will cover the elections as much as possible. We have enough resources to do it. In the pre-election period,we will be holding a series of public opinion polls about the election. It is important to improve our political culture; we are taking these measures in the interest of our audience. Exit polls arestandard practice in developed countries. This will increase the transparency of our elections,” Director General of KTK Kanat Sakhariyanov said at a press conference.
On Election Day, KTK will hold live broadcasts from polling stations and in places where the surveys will be conducted. Election Day interviews are allowed to be carried out only after voters have exited the polling station. Two to three volunteers and one controller will be working at each of the covered 200 stations (overall, there will be more than 9,700 polling stations across Kazakhstan). Interviewers will be identifiable by their uniform and each group will carry a box and sheets with a list of questions. After completing the questionnaire, voters will place them in sealed containers.
Gulmira Ileuova, President of the Strategy Centre.
“With the support of the KTK, our centre will conduct exit polls. We plan to interview 20,000 voters across 200 polling stations. We have selected this number because we have previously dealt with this amount and this is an already worked out process. Everything depends on voter turnout. Respondent selection will be held at polling station exits. Questions will be asked to every third or sixth voter. Interviewers will hold boxes with the KTK logo on them. It is important that interviewers stand at the polling stations from the beginning to the end of the election,” explained President of the Strategy Centre Gulmira Ileuova.
According to Ileuova, the questions asked will be standardised and include the respondent’s relation to the election, candidate preference, the need for elections and a general assessment of the political situation in the country.
