Noticiacla survey: 64% do not yet consider Wendrick Cicilia ready to lead AVP

ORANJESTAD — A majority of participants in a Noticiacla survey do not yet consider Wendrick Cicilia ready to assume the leadership of AVP, while only 16% indicate that they see him as sufficiently prepared for the position.

The survey, which received 380 responses, was conducted ahead of the transfer of leadership from Mike Eman to Cicilia during the AVP Congress on October 4. The transfer has been officially announced, and AVP has indicated that the congress will formalize the leadership change.

Asked directly whether Cicilia is prepared to lead AVP, 64.3% answered “no,” while 16.1% said “yes.” Another 11.9% believe it is still too early to say, while 7.7% indicated that they do not know his work well enough to form an opinion.

The result is in line with another question about the leadership change itself. Of the participants, 49.6% said they are not positive about the change, compared with 16.6% who are positive. Another 24.0% are neutral and want to see how the situation develops, while 9.8% do not have enough information to give an opinion.

Regarding the political profile the community currently sees in Cicilia, the results show that there is still considerable uncertainty. A total of 56.6% said it is still too early to determine whether he will continue Mike Eman’s political line or develop his own political identity.

Another 22.5% mainly see Cicilia as Eman’s successor who will continue his line, 10.1% see him as a leader with his own identity, and 10.8% see him as a combination of both.

The survey also measured confidence in Cicilia if he were eventually to become a candidate for Prime Minister. A total of 44.9% indicated that they have no confidence at all in him in that role, while 28.2% have little confidence. Together, this represents 73.1% of the valid responses.

On the other hand, 15.3% expressed a fair amount or a great deal of confidence, while 11.6% said they do not know Cicilia well enough to evaluate him.

One of the clearest messages in the results is that, for a large part of the participants, party leadership and leadership of the country are not necessarily the same thing. A total of 55.0% answered that being leader of AVP does not automatically mean that Cicilia should become the next Prime Minister, while another 32.5% believe that other options should be considered.

Only 11.6% indicated that they believe the leader of AVP should also become the next Prime Minister.

The survey is not a scientifically weighted sample of Aruba’s entire electorate. It is an online survey among Noticiacla readers and participants and, consequently, the results represent the opinions of the group that took part.