US IPS questions credibility of IRI

Staff Reporter :International Policy Study, (IPS) a study group in the USA has criticized International Republican Institute, (IRI) for its partisan activities in its website Right Web. This IRI, professes to be working for democracy, has published a controversial survey report last week on public opinion with regard to Bangladesh government’s popularity etc on interviewing a very selected group. We reproduce below relevant parts of the assessment of The IPS exposing the partisan and motivated nature of IRI’s activities :”The International Republican Institute (IRI), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that serves as a vehicle for the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the U.S. Agency for International Development, was created by the Ronald Reagan administration in 1983 to push democratization efforts and roll back the influence of the Soviet Union. More recently, the taxpayer-funded IRI has claimed to play a role preventing global terrorism, though some of its interventions since 9/11 have been criticized for undermining democracy. A 2006 IRI brochure declared, “When IRI began its work in 1983, advancing democracy was seen as a noble endeavor; today, it is recognized as a defense against terrorism.”The IRI has actively supported the “war on terror” with programs in at least 10 countries in the Greater Middle East region, as well as the occupied Palestinian territories. During the Bush administration, the institute was accused repeatedly of using misleading polling data to push the Bush agenda, both at home and abroad. “During the Afghan presidential election of October 2004,” reports Raw Story, “IRI’s pre-election poll showed Hamid Karzai with a strong lead, and its exit poll, released immediately after the vote and well before the ballots were counted, also gave him over 50% of the vote. The British Helsinki Human Rights Group subsequently suggested that these polls might have helped head off scrutiny of an election that had initially been met with well-founded suspicions of fraud. IRI’s polls also serve to influence public opinion in the United States. A year ago, MediaMatters pointed out that the Washington Post had cited an IRI poll showing that ‘60% of Iraqis believed the country is headed in the right direction’ without indicating the partisan nature of its source.” In respect of Bangladesh, IRI produced the public opinion survey after questioning less than 3 thousand respondents, which does not constitute the best and surest way to know the popularity of a government. Besides, many observers find it ridiculous for a foreign body to try to report on public opinion in another country. Free and fair election is the best way to know the popular choice. They are of the view that it will be good for the USA, if the American people’s money is not wasted for supplying absurdly misleading reports.