Most voters Dissatisfied with political parties – SWS

Most Filipino voters are dissatisfied with political parties because not one "truly promotes their welfare," according to a new survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

Regardless of area or class, two-thirds (67 percent) of the 1,200 respondents in the SWS survey measuring their "attitude toward political parties in the Philippines" said no party promotes their welfare while 27 percent identified at least one political party that does. The 27 percent can be considered "party-leaning," which seems to increase with higher educational attainment, according to the SWS.

In his analysis, Ateneo School of Government associate dean Dennis Gonzalez said, "The lower percentage of Filipinos (who) are party-leaning suggests that parties have not sufficiently informed, inspired, and persuaded the citizenry about their political visions, policies and platforms."

"Unfortunately, party platforms are prepared mainly for submission to the Commission on Elections (Comelec). They are not meant to be a guide to political education of the electorate, nor to govern the conduct of those elected to public office under party emblems," Gonzalez said.

He proposed that the political parties take to heart the survey findings that show that the most preferred reason for party membership is the opportunity for political education (35 percent).

Lakas is the top choice of political party, followed by the Liberal Party and Bayan Muna, among respondents who have identified a party that possesses favorable characteristics such as "does many things to benefit the citizens," "has noble leaders," "has realistic platform," "recruits candidates who are truly qualified," "interacts with many sectors," and "faithful to the true will of the party members."

Klaus Preschle, country representative of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, said the SWS survey results show that the political parties in the Philippines should be strengthened and work more on their political profiles and recruitment strategies.

The survey on political parties was commissioned by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and conducted nationwide by the SWS from Nov. 24 to 29 last year.

The survey respondents were 1,200 voting-age adults divided equally among four major study areas: the National Capital Region, Luzon (outside NCR), the Visayas, and Mindanao.

Another major finding of the survey showed that party-shifting by politicians after elections seems to be widely accepted, with 49 percent of the respondents saying this is neither bad nor right. One-third (35 percent) said party-switching is bad (usually or always), while only 15 percent said this is right.

However, 44 percent of the respondents who are party members characterize party-shifting as bad. Sixty-five percent of the respondents who said party-shifting is bad want the political turncoats to be removed from their posts rather than be fined or left unpunished.

Negative opinion about party-switching is most pronounced in the Visayas (43 percent), in classes ABC (42 percent), and among college graduates (43 percent). Some 33 percent of class D respondents have a negative opinion of party-switching.

Gonzalez said the high plurality of respondents who are neutral or indifferent on the issue of party-shifting is one of the roots of weak party discipline.

When asked about the importance of the candidate versus the party in their voting decisions, many of the respondents, by area and educational attainment, said "the candidate and the party matter equally," whether one voted for a member of Congress (46 percent) or for a mayor (44 percent).

The connection between parties and prominent politicians is very weak in the minds of Filipinos, as shown by survey results indicating that 36 percent to 43 percent of the respondents said "none" when asked about which politicians came to mind when specific parties were mentioned while 35 to 38 percent said "don’t know."

The responses, Gonzalez said, showed low public awareness of the link of prominent politicians with their respective parties, suggesting that politicians do not promote their parties enough to the public.