JP/03/IFES

39 percent do not know how to vote: IFES

M. Taufiqurrahman Jakarta

Presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono may still be the public's favorite, but a large share of votes may be invalid, a recent opinion poll suggests.

"More than a third of respondents who will vote in the presidential elections, or 39 percent, do not know the right way to vote," a report of the International Foundation for Elections System (IFES) revealed on Wednesday.

Two weeks ahead of the country's first ever direct presidential elections, "Of those who said they intended to vote, 38 percent did not know how to vote the right way".

In its latest "tracking survey" on the public's awareness of the elections, IFES interviewed 1,250 respondents in 31 of the country's 32 provinces excluding the strife-torn Maluku province.

The report said that two-thirds of respondents in Java knew how to vote. Overall, 59 percent of respondents in rural areas did not know how to vote compared to 65 percent in the cities who knew how to vote.

Overall 88 percent of respondents said they would probably vote.

The report said Susilo, the former chief security minister, was favored by 45 percent of respondents, in the belief that the retired general could overcome a myriad of problems from corruption to poor quality education.

The poll shows that supporters of almost all political parties that passed the electoral threshold in the legislative election pledged to vote for him.

For instance 45.2 percent of respondents who voted for Golkar Party and 48.8 percent who voted for the United Development Party (PPP) in the legislative election would vote for Susilo on July 5.

Tailing behind Susilo was Golkar candidate Gen. (ret) Wiranto with 11.4 percent.

The incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri came third with 11 percent, ahead of Amien Rais with 9.8 percent. Hamzah Haz came last with 2 percent. Taken together, Susilo's contenders only garnered 34.3 percent of the "votes" in the opinion poll.

The survey also showed that Susilo's popularity rose significantly after March. His appeal soared from 10 percent in the beginning of March to 45 percent in early June.

The same was true for Amien, with the number of supporters doubling in that period.

In a previous IFES survey Susilo led the opinion polls at 41 percent, with Megawati a distant second at 11.2 percent.

Earlier this month, local pollster Soegeng Sarjadi Syndicated showed that 46.64 percent of respondents said they would vote for Susilo in the July 5 election.

Managing director of IFES local partner Polling Center, Yanti B. Sugarda, said that Susilo's ability to project a statesman- like image had influenced the voters to vote for him. "Based on our findings, Susilo's personality would likely play a substantial role in garnering the most votes in the elections, and not the efforts of his campaign team," she said.

As for Megawati, Yanti said that her failure to communicate with the public had led to a steady decline in her popularity.