Susilo still red-hot favorite on 40.6% in new LSI survey<\/p>\n
A. Junaidi, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Rejecting accusations of partiality, the Indonesian Survey
\nInstitute (LSI) has again placed the Democratic Party's cofounder
\nGen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as the presidential election
\nfront-runner in its latest poll.<\/p>\n
Susilo secured 40.6 percent of the 1,216 respondents' votes,
\ndefeating current President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who came a
\ndistant second with 14.7 percent.<\/p>\n
\"Susilo and Megawati are the most likely winners in the first
\nround of the presidential election,\" the LSI's executive
\ndirector, Denny J.A. told a press conference on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The survey was conducted in 64 regencies and cities in 32
\nprovinces between April 9 and April 15, using multistage random
\nsampling and direct interviews with a margin of error of around
\n2.9 percent.<\/p>\n
Besides Susilo and Megawati, according to the survey, Gen.
\n(ret) Wiranto, the presidential candidate of the Golkar Party and
\nAmien Rais of the National Mandate Party secured 5.9 percent of
\nthe respondents' votes respectively.<\/p>\n
In April, based on another one of its survey, the LSI also
\nplaced Susilo, the former coordinating minister for political and
\nsecurity affairs, at the top of the list.<\/p>\n
Denny, however, denied that the LSI was supporting Susilo so
\nas to further its own interests, saying that his institute was
\nfunded by the Japan-Indonesia Cooperation Agency (JICA), with one
\nof the requirements being that the survey's findings should be
\nmade public.<\/p>\n
\"We have received no money from Susilo or any other party. But
\nwe do not forbid our members, in their personal capacities, to
\nhave relationships with parties,\" he asserted.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Indonesian expert from the Australian National
\nUniversity, Harold Crouch, suggested that the public treat the
\nfindings of the survey with caution.<\/p>\n
\"We should be careful. Indonesian politics are difficult to
\npredict -- liquid and quickly changing,\" said Crouch, who is also
\na member of the LSI's board of trustees.<\/p>\n
He regretted that the survey did not take the running mates of
\nthe presidential candidates and the strength of their political
\nmachines into account.<\/p>\n
The survey was conducted before Megawati, chairwoman of the
\nIndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), picked Hasyim
\nMuzadi, chairman of the country's largest Muslim organization
\nNahdlatul Ulama, as her running mate.<\/p>\n
Crouch predicted that Wiranto, the former chief of the
\nIndonesian Military (TNI), would secure a significant share of
\nthe vote as a result of Golkar's well-oiled political machine.<\/p>\n
\"How effective will the Democratic Party as a political
\nmachine for Susilo be?\" he questioned.<\/p>\n
Based on the result of the legislative election on April 5,
\nGolkar secured 21.58 million votes, the PDI-P 18.53 million
\nvotes, the National Awakening Party 10.57 million votes, the
\nUnited Development Party 8.15 million votes and the Democratic
\nParty 7.45 million votes.<\/p>",
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