Depok unfamiliar with mayoral candidates
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A recent telephone poll revealed that 60 percent of 300 of Depok's eligible voters were yet to pick one of the five pairs of candidates running for mayor and deputy mayor.
Presenting the results of the poll on the popularity of the candidates in a press conference on Tuesday, the University of Indonesia (UI)'s Political Science Research Center concluded that the candidates had to work hard to reach out to undecided voters.
"The results show that the people lack adequate information on the candidates. Therefore, the campaign teams of each pair have to fight to gain voters from the 60 percent of undecided voters," said center director Sri Budi Eko Wardani.
The poll was conducted from May 27 to May 30, about one month ahead of the election for mayor on June 26. The respondents were randomly taken from the latest Depok telephone book issued in 2004.
Depok municipality, which is one hour's drive south of Jakarta, is gearing up for the first ever direct mayoral election. The campaign period will commence on Thursday and end on June 22.
This year, a series of direct elections will take place in 200 regencies and municipalities nationwide.
The poll showed that 17 percent of respondents picked Nur Mahmudi Ismail, former minister of forestry and former leader of the Justice Party, which is now called the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
The second most popular candidate, according to the poll, is former mayor Badrul Kamal, with 11 percent.
Badrul ended his term in May, in preparation for the election.
The poll also found that although the majority of 86 percent of respondents were eager to participate in the election, 67 percent were not aware of the election date, while 76 percent did not know how many candidates were standing.
Sri Budi said the respondents' poor knowledge about the election indicated that the Depok General Elections Commission (KPU Depok) had not been thorough in its task of disseminating election information.
His statement was based on the poll results that showed only 8 percent of respondents knew about the election from the KPU Depok. Meanwhile, 31 percent got the information from newspapers and 15 percent from their neighbors.
Nur Mahmudi and running mate Yuyun Wirasaputra were nominated by the PKS, while Badrul and running mate Syihabuddin were named by the Golkar Party and the National Awakening Party (PKB).
Meanwhile, the three other mayoral candidate pairs -- Abdul Wahab-M. Ilham Wijaya, Harun Heryana - Farkhan A.R., and Yus Ruswandi-Soetadi Dipowongso -- did not receive significant support from the respondents.
Wahad-Ilham were nominated by the Democratic Party, Harun- Farkhan by the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Star Reform Party (PBR), and the Star Crescent Party (PBB), while Yus-Soetadi by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the United Development Party (PPP), and the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS).
The PKS dominated the legislative election in 2004, winning 24.49 percent of the vote of 722,225, followed by the Democratic Party with 14.23 percent, Golkar with 14.17 percent, the PDI-P with 10.06 percent, PAN with 8.85 percent, the PPP with 6.27 percent and the PDS with 3.59 percent.