The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

POLITICAL parties are continuing their use of polling to gather information concerning who voters are more likely to support in the lead up to the 2012 general election.

Yesterday, The Tribune received numerous reports of a telephone survey company that contacted homes on Sunday asking to conduct a 10 minute question and answer period.

One caller who did not disclose her identity said the enumerator offered an incentive of being the possible winner of $500 upon completing a series of questions targeting which party she would support.

She said: "I was asked who I would support if an election were called tomorrow? If I believed that the FNM had been the government for too long? And how many people in my home were eligible to vote, among other questions."

"When the survey was complete, the woman congratulated me on my eligibility to potentially win $500 in a raffle."

The woman said she strongly believes an opposition party is behind the survey.

Noting that the enumerator was not of Bahamian decent, she said it was highly likely that the company behind that particular call had outsourced the surveying to a foreign company.

The telephone number from which the call came did not have the Bahamas' area code, she added.

Another caller also said she was contacted on the same day and asked the same questions.

However Bradley Roberts, PLP chairman said his party was not using that method to gather information about voters.

Much attention has been placed on polling results for weeks as Bahamians anticipated when Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham would call the 2012 general elections.

Two weeks before Mr Ingraham announced that elections would take place on May 7, a public opinion polling company, Public Domain revealed that both the FNM and PLP were expected to be in a dead heat on election day.

If an election were to be held now, 30.5 per cent said they would vote for the FNM; 23.7 per cent said they would support the PLP and 16.5 per cent said they would vote for the DNA.