On July 11, when snap parliamentary election are held in the Republic of Moldova, the companies CBS Research and CIVIS will carry out a poll among voters who had cast their ballots. The poll was commissioned by WatchDog.MD and the Institute for Public Policy (IPP). The preliminary results of the poll will be presented on July 11 at 9pm, while the final results at 10pm, IPN reports.
The voters are urged to be receptive and sincere if they are phoned by poll operators. No personal data will be asked within the poll. The phone number generated by the computer at random will not be fixed and will not be connected to the provided responses somehow.
In a press release, WatchDog.MD and IPP say the After Poll 2021 is not a classical exit poll as it is conducted by phone. The phone numbers will be generated by a piece of software. The voters will be asked if they already voted and those who will say that they had voted will be put several questions, such as how they decided who to vote for, who they voted for and also what age and studies they have and what is their place of residence so as to find out the voter’s profile.
According to the organizers, the After Poll is an alternative method for determining citizens’ voting preferences. It is also much cheaper than the classical exit poll.
The survey by phone was tested in the presidential elections of 2020 in conditions of COVID-19 pandemic and the After Poll turned out to be a successful experience, according to the organizers of the poll. It didn’t coincide exactly with the official election outcome as the voters’ readiness to take part in the poll was also affected by the direct calls of particular politicians not to participate in this. But the study indicated the winners in both of the rounds of elections. In the runoff vote, the error compared with the final results was very small.
The poll is carried out in the framework of the project “Combating disinformation and promoting electoral integrity” that is financed by the European Endowment for Democracy and is implemented by WatchDog.MD community in partnership with the Institute for Public Policy.
