Four parties overcome barrier for entering parliament – survey
KYIV. May 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Servant of the People, the Opposition Platform– For Life, the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko (BPP) "Solidarity" and the Batkivschyna Party surpass the five-percent barrier for parliamentary elections, according to results from a joint survey conducted by the Social Monitoring center, Oleksandr Yaremenko Ukrainian Institute for Social Research, and Sociological Group Rating.
Survey results show that 29.5% of respondents (among those who have decided and say they will vote – 39.9%) support the Servant of the People, followed by the Opposition Platform – For Life with 8.1% (10.9%), the BPP "Solidarity" with 7.8% (10.6%), and Batkivschyna with 6.7% (9.1%).
Some 3.8% of all respondents (5.1% of those who have decided) will support ex-SBU State Security Service chief Ihor Smeshko's Strength and Honor Party, followed by Civil Position with 3.7% (5%), the Opposition Bloc – Party of Peace and Development with 2.6% (3.5%), Oleh Liashko's Radical Party with 2.4% (3.3%), the Svoboda Party with 1.8% (2.4%), and Andriy Sadovy's Samopomich Party with 1.5% (2.0%).
The party of Sviatoslav Vakarchuk would receive 0.7% of votes from respondents (0.9% of those who have decided). The remaining parties received less than 0.5% support from those polled.
In response to the question, "What party will you vote for if the one you have chosen is not in the list?" 9.4% chose the Servant of the People, 4.5% for the Opposition Platform – For Life and Strength and Honor each, 4.4% for Batkivschyna and Civil Position each, 3.4% for Oleh Liashko's Radical Party, 2.6% for Samopomich, 2.5% for Sviatoslav Vakarchuk's party, 2.2% for the BPP "Solidarity". Less than 2% said they would vote for other parties.
Some 29.7% said they were positive about the idea of Batkivschyna uniting with the Servant of the People, while 49.2% responded negatively and 21.1% had difficulty answering the question.
Some 17.8% said they were positive about the idea of Batkivschyna uniting with the Opposition Platform – For Life, with 57.4% responding negatively and 24.9% having difficulty answering the question.
Some 28% said they were positive about the idea that the Servant of the People and the Opposition Platform – For Life could unite, while 49.4% responded negatively and 22.5% had difficulty answering the question.
Some 27.7% favor the Opposition Platform – For Life uniting with the Opposition Bloc – Party of Peace and Development, with 44.6% taking the opposite view and 27.7% having difficulty answering the question.
Some 35.3% favor Civil Position united with Samopomich, with 35% holding a negative view and 29.8% having difficulty answering the question.
Some 22.9% favor Vakarchuk's party uniting with Vitali Klitschko's UDAR Party, while 44.4% were negative and 32.6% have difficulty answering the question.
Some 49.3% of those polled said they would definitely vote in the parliamentary elections if they were held the nearest Sunday, 29.9% said probably yes, 8.8% would definitely not take part and 5.5% would probably not vote. Some 6.4% had difficulty answering the question.
The survey was conducted from April 30 through May 10 in 24 regions of Ukraine and Kyiv. Some 3,000 persons were polled. The margin of error of the survey does not exceed 1.83%.