Presidential Election : Undecided voters to seal the poll?

Social media accounts of 9.3 million citizens are being studied   

Latest poll shows all three candidates have failed to secure even 25 percent 

International company pulled in to conduct popularity poll on RW, SP, AKD 

Same group had predicted Modi will not secure a landslide victory  

By JAMILA HUSAIN 

As parties gear up for the Presidential and Parliamentary elections scheduled to be held later this year, it is learnt that an extensive popularity poll on all presidential candidates is being conducted by an international IT company who conducted a similar poll and predicted the victory of Narendra Modi at the just concluded Indian election.  

The Daily Mirror reliably learns that this company run by Indian Americans have been invited here by some organizations and have begun conducting their survey in Sri Lanka by studying the social media accounts of an estimated 9.3 million citizens, and are providing updates to the relevant authorities on their predictions.   

Initially as the company was called in to study the upcoming election wave in Sri Lanka, they studied the social media trends for three months and are now providing updates every two weeks to the authorities on the percentage shifts of all three main presidential candidates - Ranil Wickremesinghe, Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Sajith Premadasa. 

In its latest report submitted yesterday, the group has predicted a neck to neck tie among all three candidates with all of them failing to even reach 25 percent. According to the latest prediction Wickremesinghe, Anura Kumara and Sajith Premadasa are all maintaining an average of 21 and 22 percent vote base while the undecided voters have been listed above 35 percent. Which means that presently it is the undecided voters who will have the final weight.   

The predictions have been made by studying the trends on X, formerly known as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and also by studying the public comments.  

It is learnt that this same company had rightly predicted the BJPs victory at the Indian Election but said Modi would not win through a landslide victory although major Indian media news outlets reported that he would win by a majority.  

The Daily Mirror had in April reported that none of the three main presidential candidates had secured a 50 percent vote base and a large percentage of the voters remained undecided on which candidate they will support.  

As the candidates are well aware that it is a close call, vigorous campaigns are ongoing among the politicians and also in the districts with candidates well aware that it is the undecided voters who need to be captured to seal their political future.