A National Democratic Institute survey predicts 88 per cent of eligible voters will vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections on October 31, noting 59 per cent have not decided yet who they will vote for.
When deciding what candidate to vote for, the survey says the population will first take into account the party's economic policy (36 percent), health policy (12 percent) and rule of law policy (12 percent).
The importance of economic policy in voters’ decisions is consistent with what respondents said are the most significant problems in the country: employment (49 percent), poverty (39 percent) and inflation (20 percent).
The study says that 39 per cent of respondents believe the country is developing in the right direction, while 32 per cent think that development is going in the wrong direction. However, 20 per cent of the people surveyed think that the situation in Georgia is not changing at all, while 8 per cent said they do not know. 1 per cent refuse to answer the question.
The main problems in Tbilisi are traffic jams (13 per cent) and environmental pollution (13 per cent), while in other cities and villages, the water supply (22 per cent) and roads are named (31 per cent)," says the NDI.
The majority of voters (56 percent) feel the parliamentary elections will be held in a free and fair environment.
The survey was conducted on August 6-1, and involved 2,045 people.
Interviews were carried out by telephone. The average margin of error of the poll is +/- 1.3 percent, says the NDI.