Referendum: Poll indicates why Poles failed to vote
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
08.09.2015 08:47
A poll carried out on Monday has indicated why only 7.8 percent of eligible voters in Poland took part in Sunday's three-part referendum.
Voting slips at a polling station in Warsaw. Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak
The results of Sunday's referendum are not binding as a 50 percent turnout is necessary under Polish law.
According to Monday's poll by Millard Brown for TVN, 30 percent of non-voters surveyed said that they failed to participate as they had been against having a referendum on the three matters in question.
Sunday's vote dealt with whether there should be single-member constituencies for Sejm (lower house of parliament) elections (78.78 percent voted yes), whether the state should continue to finance political parties (17.37 percent voted yes) and whether a presumption in favour of the taxpayer should be introduced in disputes over tax law (94.51 percent said yes).
Meanwhile, the Millward Brown poll found that 22 percent of voters could not give a concrete reason answer as to why they did not take part.
A further 22 percent claimed they had received too little information about the referendum or did not know that it was taking place.
Some 12 percent said that the questions asked were irrelevant, while 7 percent said they were confusing and unclear.
A further 7 percent said that they were fundamentally against referendums, regardless of the topic.
The survey was carried out on 1002 adults. (nh)