POLLS SAY: WOSHKAL AND OLD CLOSE TOGETHER

The last polls before the election on saturday have been published. The public opinion pollsters of the Saidercrayan Institute of Opinion Research (SIOR) predict a majority for a coalition of the PPJ and the SPS. On the other hand, it is still unclear who will become Saidercray's president of the legislative term 2006/2007.

If the election would be today, for which party would you vote?
- PPJ: 27% (2005: 30)
- SPS: 26% (2005: 21)
- VCA: 19% (2005: 22)
- LUSC: 16% (2005: 16)
- GDP: 7% (2005: 5)
- MPI: 5% (2005: 3)
- SWFP: 0% (2005: 1)
- NEO: 0% (2005: 2)

Presumably, the PPJ and the SPS will get enough votes to build a coalition without the help of a third party. But who is to become this coalition's president?

If the election would be today, for which candidate for presidency would you vote?
- Ian Woshkal (PPJ): 43%
- Harry Old (SPS): 42%
- Charles Ellows (VCA): 15%

Due to these results, it seems to be possible that the president will not belong to the strongest party of the parliament. Until now, this has only happened four times in Saidercray's history: in 1930 (president Peter Jansen (VCA), strongest party: PPJ), in 1951 (president Alan Sailing (PPJ), strongest party: SPS), in 1966 (president Gregory Cutton (SPS), strongest party: VCA) and in 1989 (president Mary Flynt (PPJ), strongest party: VCA).
This is possible because the president is directly elected by the people. According to the polls, Old is very popular amongst those who vote for the small parties. This might give him enough votes to outdistance Woshkal in the direct election, when the adherents of the small parties can't vote for a candidate of their favourite parties.

Saidercray Today looks forward to an exciting election. On saturday, we will know it all.

idunews