55% of Sudanese reject military rule-Afrobarometer survey
According to Afrobarometer survey conducted recently at Khartoum the capital of Sudan, 55% majority of Sudanese have rejected military rule and other non-democratic regime.
The Findings from a national survey in early 2021 show that public opposition to military, strongman, and one-party rule has increased since 2015.
Although only half of citizens declare a preference for democracy over any other political system, democracy supporters outnumber those who think non-democratic systems can be preferable by about 2-to-1.
Sudan’s transition to democracy has been led by a hybrid military-civilian government since a popular uprising forced President Omar al-Bashir from office in 2019.
But after an unsuccessful coup attempt in September, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other ministers have been arrested in an apparent coup Monday morning.
Key findings
▪ A majority (55%) of Sudanese “disapprove” or “strongly disapprove” of military rule. Even larger majorities reject one-party rule (74%) and presidential dictatorship (71%)
▪ Half (50%) of citizens prefer democracy to any other form of government – almost twice as many as think that non-democratic systems of governance can be preferable in some circumstances (28%).
▪ Opposition to rule by the military has increased by 9 percentage points since 2015.
Disapproval of being governed by an autocratic president or by a single political
party has also increased (by 11 and 5 points, respectively).
Afrobarometer surveys
Afrobarometer is a pan-African, nonpartisan survey research network that provides reliable data on African experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance, and quality of life. Eight rounds of surveys have been completed in up to 39 countries since 1999.
Round 8 surveys (2019/2021) cover 34 countries. Afrobarometer conducts face-to-face interviews in the language of the respondent’s choice.
The Afrobarometer team in Sudan, led by Sudan Polling Statistics Center (SPSC), interviewed a nationally representative, random, stratified probability sample of 1,800 adults in FebruaryApril 2021.
A sample of this size yields country-level results with a margin of error of +/-2.3percentage points at a 95% confidence level. Previous surveys were conducted in Sudan in 2013, 2015, and 2018.
Respondents were asked:
There are many ways to govern a country. Would you disapprove or approve of the following alternatives?
Only one political party is allowed to stand for election and hold office.
The army comes in to govern the country.
Elections and Parliament are abolished so that the president can decide everything.
Which of the following statements is closest to your own opinion?
Statement 1: Democracy is preferable to any other kind of government.
Statement 2: In some circumstances, a non-democratic government can be preferable.
Statement 3: For someone like me, it doesn’t matter what kind of government we have.
Source: africaneditors.com/ Eric Nii Sackey
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