The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) is optimistic that it can finish in the top-three in the upcoming election despite some of its leading members being implicated in corruption or other criminal cases in the last few years.
PKS president Anis Matta said the party had held an internal survey in January and according to its results, the PKS could win quite a significant number of votes.
“We are confident that in the remaining 40 days, we can achieve much progress. We can do enough to allow us to rank in the top-three position, God willing [insya’Allah],” said Anis on the sidelines of a PKS campaign team consolidation and ‘Anis Matta for President’ event in Jakarta on Saturday, as quoted by kompas.com.
The politician said the PKS was currently working hard to be able to win the legislative election which was set to take place on April 9. The party expects that several regions that had once been its vote base, one of which was Jakarta, can be won again.
“We are aiming to win in Jakarta again as happened in 2004 and we are now optimistic that our membership is more enthusiastic. We know the situation is challenging but we are sure that we can win it,” said Anis.
A survey released last year by the Indonesia Research Center (IRC) put the PKS in seventh position on a list of the most electable political parties. The survey found that the PKS would only receive 2.8 percent of the vote if the legislative election was held at that time.
Anis said his party had its own strategy to win votes in Jakarta. He added consolidation efforts in regions also had been continuously made, especially to attract members and accommodate voters’ aspirations.
“We have a plan to knock on 1 million doors in Jakarta and deliver our manifesto,” said Anis. (idb/ebf)
