Prof. S. T. Hettige of the University of Colombo yesterday claimed that a report prepared through a survey conducted under his guidance to find out the current political trend had been leaked to media and used in the state controlled media using selected areas which was to the advantage of the PA.

He added that the report did not give any particular party any advantage and the news reports in the state media was not the true picture and therefore it was misleading the public.

Following is the full text of Prof. Hettige’s statement.

"On December 2nd and 3rd state controlled media carried a prominent headline using some selected statistics drawn from a survey report prepared by us. This survey was done under my guidance not to give any particular party an advantage, but to find out the current political trends. Since I knew that such a report is bound to be used and abused by interested parties, I did not officially release it to the media. However, certain media institutions have somehow got hold a copy of it and have selectively published news items to give an advantage to PA. Since this news report has not given the true picture and can mislead some of the members of the public, I feel that it is necessary to issue a statement to give the correct position.

Firstly, according to our survey, public confidence in the incumbent President has come down and stands at 38% of the people interviewed. This is a reflexion of the dwindling credibility of the major parties and their leaders. Same applies to the opposition leader as well, according to the survey.

Secondly, There is no major gap between two major parties in terms of their popularity, though there has been a significant increase in the support for the JVP. However, according to the survey 35% and 32% of the interviewees intend to vote for PA and UNP, respectively. However, this situation can change substantially at the General Election. The main reason for this is that around 12% of the respondents did not indicate their preferences. This leaves the whole electoral contest wide open.

"It is also noteworthy that the vote of the minorities has moved substantially in favour of UNP, according to the survey. Another noteworthy piece of information is the fact that only a minority of 32% of the respondents felt that if the PA is re-elected to power, it would be able to address the problems in the country.

"With reference to the national leadership, it seems that since there is no widely popular credible second their leader in the PA the President has relatively more public standing. On the other hand, there appears to be such credible second tier leaders in the UNP and therefore, more people feel that, in case of a change of leadership, there is somebody to takeover.

"Finally, it should be emphasized that when media institutions prepare news reports on surveys carried out by independent researchers they should not do so selectively without consulting the researchers who conducted the study. This is what should not happen in a democratic society. We have over the years done everything to maintain our independence, credibility and objectivity in our work. By this kind of selective reporting that some of the media institutions have resorted to, they have deliberately made an attempt to undermine this position that we have maintained. This in effect is a national tragedy of very great proportions. I very much regret this type of happening at a time when independence and objectivity of research and news reporting need to be maintained at any cost".