JAKARTA: Indonesia's main opposition party is set to win a convincing victory at legislative elections next week, boosted by the nomination of the popular Jakarta governor as their presidential candidate, a poll showed.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) will take 37 percent of the vote at Wednesday's election, a survey of 2,000 people by private pollster Roy Morgan Research suggested.
The poll put the corruption-mired Democratic Party of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in fourth place with 10 percent.
The Golkar party, the former political vehicle of late dictator Suharto, came second in the survey with its support declining to 17 percent, while the Gerindra party of ex-army general Prabowo Subianto was in third with 14 percent.
The PDI-P had been expected to top the elections for some months, but it has seen an increase in popularity since the nomination of governor Joko Widodo as its candidate for the presidential elections in July.
Roy Morgan Research reported a 10-percent jump in the party's popularity after Widodo, known universally by his nickname of "Jokowi", was chosen in mid-March, compared to a previous poll.
His humble demeanour and common touch -- he regularly heads out to meet people in the capital's poorer districts -- has endeared him to the nation.
The survey showed the percentage of people saying they would vote for Widodo in the presidential polls rising to 45 percent from 35 percent in a survey before his nomination.
His main rival for the presidency is seen as Subianto but he lagged far behind in the survey with only 15 percent saying they would pick him as head of state.
Roy Morgan Research is an Australian company which has an Indonesian office. The survey was released late Wednesday.
Some 186 million voters are eligible to cast ballots in the legislative elections in the world's third-biggest democracy, with 12 parties competing for 560 seats in the national parliament.
Source/Fuente: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/poll-reveals-indonesia/1057658.html
