Voters don't know candidates: Survey<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Most voters know how to properly perforate their ballot papers,
\nbut they remain so indifferent to the candidates that many of
\nthem are likely to vote for anybody, a survey reveals.<\/p>\n
The survey conducted by the Center for the Study of
\nDevelopment and Democracy (Cesda) found that some 70 percent of
\nvoters knew they had to perforate both the symbol of their
\npreferred political party and the name of one of its candidates
\nduring the polls on April 5.<\/p>\n
Only 21 percent of respondents still did not know how to
\nproperly perforate the ballot papers.<\/p>\n
Of the respondents who said they did know how to properly
\nperforate the papers, 26 percent of them said they would vote for
\nany candidate, 46 percent said they would only perforate the
\nparty symbol and 7 percent said they would not make any
\nperforation.<\/p>\n
\"The reason is because most respondents, around 59 percent,
\nsay they do not recognize the legislative candidates,\" Cesda
\nresearcher Rahadi T. Wiratama told reporters on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Due to their limited knowledge on the backgrounds and track
\nrecords of the legislative candidates, some 52 percent of the
\nrespondents said they were afraid of voting for candidates who
\ndid not live up their expectations of probity.<\/p>\n
Some 10 percent of the voters said they would not vote for
\ncandidates who had been involved in criminal activity, while 8
\npercent opposed candidates with a record of involvement in money
\npolitics and rights violations.<\/p>\n
Cesda conducted the survey between March 5 and March 18. The
\n1,459 respondents were selected through the purposive sampling
\nmethod in 69 electoral districts in Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi,
\nBali\/Nusa Tenggara, Maluku and Papua.<\/p>\n
More than 60 percent of the respondents lived in villages.<\/p>\n
The margin of error in the survey is approximately 3 percent.<\/p>\n
Last year, a survey conducted by the Center for Electoral
\nReform (Cetro) revealed that more than half of the country's 145
\nmillion eligible voters did not know how to perforate the ballot
\npapers properly.<\/p>\n
Another survey by the International Foundation for Election
\nSystems (IFES) and the Polling Center in February this year
\ndisclosed that 60 percent of respondents would only perforate
\nparty symbols, while only 19 percent would perforate both the
\nparty symbols and the names of their candidates of choice as
\nrequired by electoral law.<\/p>\n
Public skepticism as to the outcome of this year's legislative
\nand presidential elections was also found by the Cesda survey,
\nwith some 43 percent of the respondents saying the elections
\nwould not affect their lives.<\/p>\n
Only 33 percent of the respondents believed the newly elected
\nlegislators and president would lead the country to a better
\nfuture.<\/p>\n
Another Cesda researcher, Wildan Pramudya, said the skepticism
\nwas related to the fact that some 60 percent of the respondents
\nwere \"dissatisfied\" with the performance of the legislators
\nelected in 1999.<\/p>\n
\"Therefore, most of them have yet to decide on which political
\nparty they will vote for,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Some 14 percent of the respondents said they would vote for
\nthe Golkar Party, 9 percent for the Indonesian Democratic Party
\nof Struggle (PDI-P) and 4 percent for the National Mandate Party
\n(PAN).<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/voters-dont-know-candidates-survey-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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