JK-Wiranto gain most benefit from series of debate: Survey

Dicky Christanto ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 07/04/2009 2:21 PM  |  Presidential Election

Presidential candidate Jusuf Kalla and his running mate Wiranto have benefited the most from the series of televised debates ahead of next week’s election, a survey revealed Saturday.

The Indonesian Development Monitoring Institute’s (IDM) latest survey, involving 3,700 respondents across the country’s 33 provinces, was conducted between June 1 and 16, and showed the Kalla-Wiranto ticket saw its popularity jump to 26.57 percent from 13.2 percent in the previous survey.

The Megawati Soekarnoputri-Prabowo Subianto ticket remained in the lead with 44.28 percent, relatively unchanged from the previous survey, which gave it 44.13 percent of the vote.

The IDM survey said the debates had cost President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his running mate Boediono dearly, with their popularity dipping to 27.15 percent from the earlier 30.43 percent. IDM executive director Dwi Mardianto said Yudhoyono’s sidekicks, including presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng, were responsible for the decline.

“Andi committed a blunder when he said it was not time for a South Sulawesi candidate to be president,” Mardianto said.

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