T

he embattled chairman of the Democratic Party Anas Urbaningrum has said he is optimistic that his party will come out on top in the 2014 general election.

Anas was so confident of a Democratic Party victory that he promised to shave his head if it materialized in 2014.

“I am confident that you will fight with me to realize that collective target and if we make it in the 2014 election, I promise I will go bald,” Anas said, as quoted by kompas.com.

Anas made the pledge during his speech to inaugurate the new local leadership of the Democratic Party in the regencies of East Java.

Also present at the ceremony was party secretary-general Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono and chairman of the East Java branch of the party Soekarwo, who is also the province’s governor.

The Democratic Party has suffered in recent public opinion polls with a single-digit favorability rating.

In late October, The Jakarta-based pollster Political Weather Station (PWS) found that if an election were to have taken place at that time, the Golkar Party would have received 19.71 percent of the vote, Gerindra 10 percent and the Democratic Party 6.91 percent.

The steep drop in the popularity of the Democratic Party could be attributed to the perceived lackluster performance of the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.