A majority of people in Pakistan think that the country is heading in a wrong direction and the present government does not deserve to be re-elected because of its poor performance.

According to a survey conducted by the International Republican Institute (IRI) of the US Republican Party and released here, 56 per cent of the people said their economic condition had worsened over the past one year and 65 per cent said they felt less secure today.

Another interesting finding of the survey is that a majority of respondents were opposed to a deal between President Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto.

The poll was conducted between August 29 and September 13 and the randomly selected sample consisted of 4,009 men and women from 256 rural and 144 urban areas of 60 districts in the four provinces.

The survey says: “As the national mood continues to sour, President Musharraf continues to bear the brunt of this voter dissatisfaction and his approval rating has dropped to an all-time low of 21 per cent, from a high of 63 per cent in September 2006.”

In addition to declining approval ratings, Gen Musharraf’s points fell in several other categories as well. The percentage of voters saying that President Musharraf should resign increased by seven points to 70 and his favourability rating dropped by 13 points to 22. Further, when asked to name the best leader for Pakistan, Gen Musharraf dropped to third place, behind both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.