Presidential candidates to woo undecided voters

Presidential candidates to woo undecided voters

A. Junaidi, Jakarta

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Megawati Soekarnoputri have their
work cut out for them in wooing undecided voters whose first
picks fell by the wayside in the July 5 election, analysts say.

"The number of undecided voters is high, but it doesn't mean
they will not vote in the runoff. So the candidates, particularly
Megawati, should work hard to attract them," head of the research
division of the Institute for Social and Economic Research,
Education and Information (LP3ES) M. Husain said on Tuesday.

The latest survey by LP3ES on July 5 in 32 provinces revealed
that 70 percent of 26 million people who voted for presidential
candidate Wiranto from the Golkar Party were still undecided of
whether to choose Susilo or Megawati.

The survey, involving 4,511 respondents with a margin of error
of plus/minus 1.5 percent, also said that 74 percent of 17
million supporters of presidential candidate Amien Rais of the
National Mandate Party (PAN) had not decided who to vote for in
the runoff.

According to the survey, 84 percent of the 3.5 million people
who voted for presidential candidate Hamzah Haz of the United
Development Party (PPP) also had no idea who they would vote for
next.

Of the more than 47 million voters who saw their candidates
eliminated, 10 million preferred Susilo compared to only three
million who would vote for Megawati, the survey says.

Voters considered the economy, basic needs and corruption
eradication as the top priorities to be addressed, the survey
found.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) announced on Monday
that Susilo and Megawati, who secured 39.8 million and 31.56
million votes respectively, would contest the Sept. 20 runoff.

Among the 156 million registered voters, only 121 million
voted in the July 5 election.

Another pollster, the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI),
released its survey result, which said that between 5 percent and
17 percent of supporters of eliminated candidates had not decided
on their next preference.

The survey, which was conducted in 32 provinces between July
17 and July 19, said 5 percent of Golkar's supporters and 7.6
percent of the National Awakening Party's supporters, whose
parties nominated Wiranto, had not decided on who to vote for
next.

About 16.7 percent of PAN supporters and 7.7 percent of the
supporters of the Prosperous Justice Party, which also nominated
Amien, and 11 percent of PPP supporters had also not decided on
their new preferences. The survey involved 1,200 respondents with
a margin of error of 3 percent.

"It appears that the majority of supporters of the eliminated
candidates will vote for Susilo and only a small number will
choose Megawati," LSI's director M. Qodari said.

Qodari said the survey showed that 68 percent of the
respondents would vote for Susilo, 23 percent for Megawati and 9
percent were still undecided.

The survey did not include around 34 million registered voters
who did not cast their ballots in July.

Political observer Indria Samego said the two candidates,
especially Megawati, would need to work extra hard to woo the
undecided voters and improve her vote gain.

"Megawati's team should think hard about how to woo more
supporters in the two months left," Indria of the Indonesian
Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said.

He said the candidates should increase their popularity
through television ads since the survey showed that most of the
voters were much influenced by ads.

He said grassroots support was more vital for the candidates,
instead of support from the political elite since voters were
independent.