With the Uva Provincial Council elections taking place tomorrow, Social Indicator, the survey research unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives has analysed data from field work conducted in May and June 2014 to get a sense of the issues and priorities of the people of Uva as they go to vote.
The current state of the economy has had an impact on the lives of the people in the Uva Province, especially at the household level. 43.4% of people say that the financial situation in their household is a little worse when compared to 2 years ago, while 31.9% say that it is a lot worse. This situation has led to certain compromises in terms of food intake and even medical treatment – with 43% stating that they have cut back on the quality of food they purchase and 28.6% of the households stating that they have gone without medicine or medical treatment in the last year. Almost 90% of those from the Uva Province say that they would like to see a reduction in the cost of living as a result of the current development drive. The cost of living is also the second most important area they believe the Government should pay attention to, with Agriculture taking the first priority and infrastructure coming in third. When asked what they think of the current economic situation of the country, 44.6% believe that it is somewhat bad while 12.5% say it is very bad.
