Afghan Attitudes on Public Services and the Campaign

In our second look at results from DI's pre-election survey, we examine more closely the campaign for the Wolesi Jirga and public perceptions of current members of parliament. 45% of respondents report that there had been campaign rallies for candidates in their areas within the last three months. Of those respondents, 56% had reported that they had atttended those rallies, where violence took place 14% of the time.  Rallies appear more popular than door-to-door campaigning: only 16% report that a candidate had visited them at home before the election.

Consistent with other findings that many Afghans support a democratic system of government, our respondents support legitimate and credible elections: 80% prefer that the Wolesi Jirga election is free and fair even if their candidates loses, only 15% prefer that their candidate wins over an honest election.

Specifically with respect to the performance of their members of parliament, 55% have a positive rating of the delivery of services from their current MP. When asked why they do not get more services from their MP, 46% blame misuse of funds (corruption), while 31% blame favoritism and 21% a lack of money. Afghans have mixed views about whether their MP had fulfilled promises since the last election: 12% say mostly, 51% say only some, and 35% say promises haven't been fulfilled.

You can previous results from this survey here; we will be releasing additional survey response data in the coming days.