Democratic Party chairman President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says the party’s popularity has continued to increase ahead of the upcoming election as a survey conducted by a credible institution placed the Democratic Party as the third-most popular party.
The President also said that according to the survey, the gap between the Democratic Party and the most popular political party was not very wide.
“This is good news! All this time, surveys have said that the Democratic Party’s electability was far lower than other political parties; but last Sunday, I received results of a survey from a credible institution saying that in all regions surveyed there was a positive swing toward the Democratic Party,” said Yudhoyono at a presidential convention debate in Bogor, West Java, on Sunday, as quoted by kompas.com.
He declined to reveal the name of the institution saying only that there was a difference of only around 6 percent between the two parties.
“In various surveys, the Democratic Party secured only 7 percent of the potential vote while other parties got between 25 and 35 percent,” Yudhoyono said.
“But in the survey released 10 days ago, the Democratic Party ranked third but its popularity gap with the other parties was not too alarming,” he said.
Yudhoyono said he was also sure that the Democratic Party’s popularity could be even higher.
Regarding the presidential convention, Yudhoyono said it was held to introduce all of the party’s would-be presidential candidates to the electorate.
“It is hoped that the Indonesian people can truly understand the integrity, character and personality of each presidential candidate. They should know about their past experience and their readiness to become the leader of this country,” said Yudhoyono.
