Ban on publication of pre-election surveys sought
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2019 09:52:37 +0000
LAWYER Larry Gadon on Monday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to prohibit survey firms such as Pulse Asia and Social Weather Station (SWS) from publishing pre-election survey results beginning February 12.
“It is prayed for this Honorable Commission to command the respondents to cease and desist from further publishing their ‘erroneous’, ‘slanted’, and ‘bogus’ election survey results from the start of the campaign period until election day itself,” read his petition.
“It is respectfully prayed before this Honorable Commission that the instant Petition be given due course and that respondents SWS and Pulse Asia be directed to cease and desist from publishing bogus survey results calculated to mislead voters pertinent to the position of Senator relative to the May 13, 2019 National Elections from the start of the campaign period until election day,” it further read.
In an interview, Gadon said those surveys are being used to condition the minds of Filipino voters.
“This is seemingly a mind conditioning scheme of the respondents to make it appear before the voting public that their chosen candidates are preferred, when in fact they are not,” he said.
“My purpose here is to stop the mind conditioning that they are doing,” added Gadon.
The lawyer believes that he would have landed in the Top 12 if only real voter preference is reflected in surveys.
“I should be in the Top 12,” Gadon said.
“In the 2016 polls, I was not in their survey but I still landed on number 27 even if I don’t have billboards, TV ads,” he added.
Gadon is running for senator in the May 13, 2019 midterm polls. (Leslie Ann Aquino)