Kreni-promeni Asks Ipsos Paris to Probe Ipsos Serbia Poll
The movement filed a complaint with the global headquarters of Ipsos in Paris over a poll published by Ipsos Serbia, and says it will also file with ICC/ESOMAR.
The Kreni-promeni movement has filed a formal complaint with the global headquarters of Ipsos in Paris over an opinion poll published by Ipsos Serbia near the end of the election campaign. The complaint became public on the evening of Friday, October 23. In it, the movement claims the local agency violated the professional and ethical standards of the global brand.
What does Kreni-promeni want from Ipsos?
The movement sent headquarters three demands:
- a detailed internal investigation into how the disputed data was collected, processed and published
- a review of the professional and disciplinary responsibility of Ipsos management in Serbia
- a temporary suspension of the local branch’s membership and certificates, if the failings are not corrected and all methodological parameters are not published
The movement put the first two demands into a single sentence:
“For that reason, we are demanding that Ipsos carry out a detailed internal investigation into how the disputed data was collected, processed and released by an agency that conducts public opinion research in Serbia under a similar name, as well as a review of the professional and disciplinary responsibility of the management of Ipsos in Serbia for undermining the integrity of the profession and damaging the reputation of the company itself,” Kreni-promeni said.
The third demand is conditional. The movement says it will seek a suspension only if the local branch refuses both to correct its failings and to publish the methodological parameters that, according to the movement, it is withholding.
Why does the movement dispute the poll?
Kreni-promeni says it told headquarters that the poll, conducted by an agency in Serbia under a similar name, was published without the basic data needed to verify its credibility. It stated one of its assessments this way:
“The poll by the Belgrade Ipsos puts out information in a way that directly manipulates citizens’ perception at a sensitive political moment before the elections, and runs contrary to the global principles of objectivity and impartiality that Ipsos commits itself to.”
These are the assessments of the party that filed the complaint. This article does not report the results of the poll the complaint refers to, because the subject of the news is not the content of the survey but the procedure the movement has started.
What is the next step?
Besides the complaint to headquarters in Paris, Kreni-promeni says it will formally file with ICC/ESOMAR, the international professional association of market and public opinion researchers. Ipsos is a signatory of the International Code on Market, Opinion and Social Research, so the movement says it will present that body with evidence of violations of professional standards in Serbia.
What is still unknown?
No response from Ipsos has been published, either from headquarters in Paris or from the agency in Serbia. The name and position of the movement’s representative who signed the complaint have not been given.
On Friday, October 23, we reported that CeSID and Ipsos would publish turnout data in five time slots on Sunday. The Kreni-promeni complaint is a separate procedure, aimed at one agency and its parent company, and so far none of the institutions the movement has approached, or says it will approach, has made a decision.
