WikiLeaks:80% Says MR Is Corrupt And 85% Says His Family Is Corrupt
October 5, 2011By Colombo Telegraph -
I'm not a yes–man, 80 percent says you are
corrupt
“President Rajapaksa’s chief
opinion pollster – who is a good contact of the embassy on other issues – shared
with us the first findings from their initial survey. These initial responses
indicated that potential voters had little interest in the symbolic issues” US
ambassador Patricia A. Butenis wrote to Washington.
The
Colombo Telegraph found the leaked cable from the Wikileak database. The cable
classified as “CONFIDENTIAL” by the ambassador Patricia A. Butenis.
In
the cable, written in 26thDecember 2009 recount details of a meeting
with President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s chief pollster and his close advisor Sunimal
Fernando. Under the subheading “PRESIDENTIAL POLLSTER SURPRISED BY GOOD FIGURS”
the ambassador wrote “Only about 10% cared about the president’s creation of a
“patriotic society” after the war or his willingness to stand tall against the
west. Also, many voters saw the Rajapksa family as corrupt (85%) and the
85 percent says Rajapaksa family is corrupt
president himself as corrupt (80%). Despite all his
faults, the pollster claimed, many voters still saw Rajapkasa as a man of action
and a man of his word and would vote for him over Fonseka.”
Placing
a comment she wrote “the pollster prides himself on being one of the few figures
in the president’s circle who gives him objective information and is not a yes –
man… we find interesting the very high negatives for the president on corruption
and apparent lack of voter interest in Rajapaksa’s standard patriotic issues,
which could eat away at the president’s positive figures as the campaign
progresses”
Related
news links - Wikileaks – “race is neck and neck”
Rajapaksa’s chief pollster Sunimal Fernando -http://colombotelegraph.com/2011/10/02/wikileaks-%E2%80%9Crace-is-neck-and-neck%E2%80%9D-rajapaksa%E2%80%99s-chief-pollster-sunimal-fernando/
