Afrobarometer Survey and StraConsult: "The Mauritians Serene of the country's economic future"

How Mauritians perceive the economic situation? Do they trust the institutions and their perceptions of corruption? So many questions asked in a poll conducted jointly with Afrobarometer PluriConseil. The results were released this week.

Afrobarometer, the organization that conducted the opinion poll, has a good reputation in Africa. Anyway Chingwete, representing the Afrobarometer and the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA), explained that this survey meets a strict statistical approach, and the results are reliable.

Highly respected institutions such as the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) sponsored the survey in Mauritius. The survey sample consists of 1200 persons. The survey was conducted from January to February 2012.

Economically, the survey estimated that "Mauritians are very calm about the country's economic situation". Indeed, only 38% of those surveyed in early 2012 consider that the country's economic situation is bad. 43% believe the situation is rather good and 19% the judge neither better nor worse.

Comparing the economic status of countries to twelve months ago, 55% of respondents consider that the situation has not deteriorated or improved. 25% even think it has improved. Only 19% think that there has been a deterioration in the economic situation. Mauritians do not seem worried about the future over the next twelve months. For the study, 26% think the economy will be better, 33% believe the situation will not change and 36% think there will be a deterioration. "Looking forward, we can say that Mauritians demonstrate serenity. They are only 29% think that their living conditions will deteriorate over the next twelve months, "said the bulletin No. 3 of the Afrobarometer.

The bulletin also shows that "corruption has not been identified by the respondents among the top five concerns of Mauritians".

However, answering the question 'In your opinion, how many of the following groups are involved in corruption?', 74% of respondents answered "some government officials are corrupt", 71% of respondents answered that " some police are corrupt ", 67% believe that some councilors of municipalities and district councils are corrupt, and 40% believe that some judges and magistrates are involved in corruption.

"However, very few respondents reported having had an experience of corruption in their attempts to access a public service," explained the survey results. "Indeed, on the famous question of jars of wine to the voters, only 2% say they have received offers against their vote," notes the study.

The "Trust Factor" in institutions is a key element in good governance of a country. When asked "Do you trust each of the following, or do you not heard enough?", The results indicate that "the court appears at the top of the Mauritian capital of trust, while municipalities and councils district are the lowest ranking. "