New Delhi, Apr 16 (IANS): Access to safe drinking water, better employment opportunities and healthcare were Kerala voters' top three priorities, the parameters on which the state government has performed "below average", says a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an election watchdog.

"The Kerala Survey 2018 shows better employment opportunities (47.42 per cent), hospitals/primary healthcare centres (45.24 per cent) and drinking water (44.77 per cent) are the top three voters' priorities in Kerala," the ADR said in a statement on Tuesday.

The performance of the government on all top three voters' priorities was rated as below average. "Better employment opportunities (1.95 on a scale of five), hospitals/primary healthcare centres (2.02) and drinking water (1.99) was rated as below average," it said.

In rural Kerala, the top voter priorities were better employment opportunities (49 per cent), better hospitals/primary healthcare centres (45 per cent) and drinking water (40 per cent), it said.

"The performance of the government on rural voters' priorities of better employment opportunities (1.93 on a scale of five), better hospitals/primary healthcare centres (2.07) and drinking water (2.10) was rated as below average," the ADR said.

The government also performed poorly in providing better roads (1.96) and better public transport (2.09) in rural Kerala.

For the urban voters, top priorities were drinking water (48 per cent), better employment opportunities (46 per cent) and better hospitals/primary healthcare centres (45 per cent).

"The performance of the government -- on a scale of five -- on urban voters' priorities of drinking water (1.93 ), better employment opportunities (1.96) and better hospitals/primary healthcare centres (1.99) was rated as below average," it said.

The performance of the government was also poor on better public transport (1.93) and water and air pollution (1.94) in urban Kerala.