Muslims believe poll violence a ‘way of life’

Most Muslims in Mindanao believe that election-related violence is “a way of life” there based on a survey taken barely five months before the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Sixty-nine percent of “Mindanao Muslims,” according to the Social Weather Stations (SWS), say that violence during elections “is a way of life” in their provinces, while 41 percent say they are worried about their personal security during the polling season.

The survey, conducted from Feb. 1 to 7, also showed 62 percent of the respondents saying it is good to have an unopposed candidate since it reduces campaign violence.

Meanwhile, the survey also found 68 percent satisfied with the results of the 2007 elections. Majority of the respondents believe that the official winners truly got the most votes.

This compares well with the 65 percent response among Filipinos in general when surveyed by SWS in June 2007, the SWS said.

The SWS special survey of Mindanao Muslims, sponsored by the Asia Foundation, had a total of 1,300 respondents.

In 2007, the Asia Foundation worked with SWS in carrying out three national surveys to measure citizen attitudes and experiences – one in February after the campaign period had started, one in late April just before the elections in May, and one in June after the elections.

Each of these surveys had a national sample of 1,200 statistically representative adult respondents divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila, the balance of Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

Each survey had an error margin of plus or minus three percent at the national level and plus or minus six percent at the major study areas.

In the latest survey, 76 percent of the respondents said they would feel more confident in the fairness of the process if the votes were immediately counted at the precinct, instead of being taken to the municipal level for counting, as was often done in the ARMM in the past.

Seventy-five percent of Mindanao Muslims say the 2007 voting was clean and orderly in their precincts, or much lower than the 97 percent response of all Filipinos in the June 2007 survey, the SWS said.

The survey also found 45 percent of respondents saying that a woman should get advice from her husband or father in deciding her vote. Muslim women have similar opinions as Muslim men, the SWS said.

Eighty-three percent said they prefer to be represented by a male rather than by a female congressman. The preference is slightly less among women (79 percent) than among men (88 percent), it said.

With respect to the role of ulamas or Muslim elders in the elections, 83 percent of Mindanao Muslims expect them to become more influential in the ARMM polls in August, the SWS said.