According to the latest survey, public support for the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) has experienced a slight drop from year 2007.

According to the 2008 Peoples Survey Report by the Australian National University A-N-U Enterprise, 86 percent of respondents interviewed for the survey say they support the presence of RAMSI in the country.

This is a four per cent drop from the 90 percent that showed support for RAMSI last year.

The percentage of people who said they were undecided has increased from last year's four per cent to six percent this year.

Meanwhile, the percentage of people who do not support the presence of RAMSI in the country has risen from four percent to five percent.

RAMSI's Special Coordinator, Tim George took a special interest in the level of provincial support for the regional mission in Guadalcanal and Malaita, which showed a decline.

Mr George said the biggest changes compared to the 2007 report were support for RAMSI at the provincial level.

The 2008 survey report showed that in Guadalcanal only ninety four percent of respondents supported RAMSI's presence in the country, a three percent drop from last year's support.

While in Malaita Province, support for RAMSI dropped from 87 percent in 2007 to 76 per cent this year.

The 2008 People's Survey was launched this week in Honiara.


SIBC