Musharraf popularity poll a fraud?

A survey, which showed that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s popularity would shoot up after he stepped down as Army Chief and became a civilian President, may have been a fraud poll, a media report said on Monday.

The US-based International Public Opinion Polls (IPOP), which claimed to have conducted the survey, does not exist, the Daily Times reported. The report said the comprehensive directory of polling and survey research organisations in the US did not list any organisation by the name of IPOP.

A press release from IPOP had claimed last week that 74 per cent of Pakistanis surveyed by it had said Musharraf’s popularity would boost once he doffs his uniform. The release claimed that the survey was conducted in Pakistan’s major cities through the internet and on telephone.

The poll also said that 55 per cent of respondents wanted Pakistan’s political parties to take part in polls under Musharraf.