KOMPAS.com - It will be very likely a one-round presidential election in July, with incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his running mate central bank governor Boediono the most favorite of the majority of voters, a new survey has revealed.
The survey, conducted about two weeks ago by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), found that 70 percent of 2,014 respondents would vote for Yudhoyono and Boediono, compared with 21 percent who would pick Megawati Soekarnoputri-Prabowo pair and mere 3 percent who would vote for Jusuf Kalla and Endriartono Sutarto.
LSI executive director Saiful Mujani said when the survey was conducted, it was believed that Kalla would pick Endriartono, former Indonesian military (TNI) chief, as his running mate instead of Wiranto, another former TNI chief who ended up pairing with Kalla.
Saiful denied that he had earlier been informed of Yudhoyono's pairing with Boediono, saying the LSI also matched the incumbent President with other potential figures, including State Secretary Hatta Radjasa, People's Consultative Assembly speaker Hidayat Nurwahid and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.
"But, the survey found that Yudhoyono wins about the same amount of votes with whomever he pairs with," Saiful told reporters after announcing the results of the survey here Thursday.
"Boediono's candidacy neither lessen nor add to his popularity," he added.
In single candidacy, the LSI found that Yudhoyono, already the most popular among other presidential hopefuls, enjoys even more popularity with his Democratic Party winning the April 9 legislative elections. His popularity has been steadily increasing since mid 2008, while that of his main contender Megawati has been slowly decreasing.
In the recent survey, 67 percent respondents would vote for him, followed by 12 percent who would vote for Megawati, 3 percent for Prabowo, 2 percent each for Kalla and Yogyakarta governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, and 1 percent for Wiranto.
About two months earlier, only 51 percent respondents would vote for Yudhoyono and 17 percent for Megawati. The survey also found that Yudhoyono's popularity among the middle class is even higher, with 80 percent of 400 respondents saying they would vote for Yudhoyono compared with 6 percent for Megawati and 5 percent for Kalla.
Religion and ethnicity factors, according to the survey, have no influence to Yudhoyono-Boediono's popularity, saying they receive major support from each religious and ethnic groups in Indonesia. (Erwida Maulia)
