A recent opinion poll undertaken in Honiara following last November’s riots found more Solomon Islanders wanted the country to be diplomatically aligned with liberal democratic countries.
APMI Partners, Asia Pacific region’s leading provider of market research, social research, economic research, fieldwork services and market-intelligence based consulting, carried out the research.
This is to determine the view of the adult population relating to issues such as which countries the Solomon Islands should be diplomatically aligned towards, which countries the Solomon Islands should receive financial aid from, the level of foreign investment in key industries such as forestry and the level of perceived government corruption.
One question asked “Do you prefer the Solomon Islands to be diplomatically aligned more towards China or liberal democratic counties?”
The overwhelming majority of 91% answered “Liberal Democratic Countries” with only 9% answering “China”.
In another question, asked “Should the Solomon Islands receive financial aid from China?” 79% answered “No” and 21% answered “Yes”.
In terms of the level of perceived government corruption, one question asked “Do you believe that there exists corruption in the national government?” where 83% answered “Yes”.
A subsequent question asked “Over the last 12 months, do you believe that the level of corruption in the national government has decreased, remained the same or increased?” where 68% answered “Increased”; 21% answered “Remained the Same” and 11% answered “Decreased”.
The survey used a methodology where a nationwide, representative survey of 1,526 adults throughout the nine provinces of the Solomon Islands was conducted between 25th November to 7th December 2021.
