A new survey of first-time voters shows that Golkar party chairman Aburizal Bakrie and founder of the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura), Wiranto, hold the most potential to win the 2014 election.
A survey conducted by the National Survey Institute (LSN) found that 18.6 percent of the respondents thought Aburizal was the most suitable figure to lead Indonesia. He was followed closely by Wiranto, who was supported by 16.4 percent of the respondents.
LSN researcher Dipa Pradipta said the survey was conducted in 33 provinces, with 1,230 respondents between 16 and 20 years old, with margin of error of 2.8 percent.
“After the survey we found out that first-time voters have different minds from regular voters,” he said on Sunday.
Retired army general Prabowo Subianto, the founder the Great Indonesian Movement Party (Gerindra) who has been repeatedly heralded as the top presidential candidate by various polls, was favored by 12.5 percent of the respondents in the LSN probe.
Dipa said most young voters said that they were looking for leaders with strong capabilities to run the country, rather than those who were involved with a particular issue.
“For instance, Aburizal Bakrie, whose name has been constantly linked with the mud flow disaster in Sidoarjo, still has has the highest vote,” he said.
Meanwhile a survey released on Sunday by the Polltrack Institute, found that Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo was a favorite to be the next Indonesian president.
Indonesian portal news Detik.com reported that among 14 other candidates, Joko was considered the closest figure to a leader with 10 qualities the voters wished from a president, including decisiveness, experience, and integrity.
by: Yeremia Sukoyo
