T

he incumbent vice governor of West Java leads various surveys for the upcoming election.

His boss, Governor Ahmad Heryawan, trails in second place.

At the same time, many voters have decided not to cast their ballots.

A survey by the Padjadjaran University statistics center this week found that Vice Governor Dede Yusuf Macan Effendi and his running mate, former provincial secretary Lex Laksamana, to be in the lead with 33.3 percent of 2,313 respondents favoring the pair.

Dede and Lex were nominated by a coalition of the Democrat Party (PD), the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party.

Ahmad and his running mate veteran actor Deddy Mizwar, supported by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), were second with 29.3 percent.

Lawmaker Rieke Diah Pitaloka of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and antigraft activist Teten Masduki hold 22.8 percent of preferences, Golkar Party’s pair of Irianto MS Syafiuddin and Tatang Farhanul Hakim trail with 13.4 percent and independent candidates Dikdik Arief Mansur and Cecep Nana Suryana Toyib took just over 1 percent.

The survey also found that almost a third of respondents were unlikely to cast their ballots, a sharp increase from around 20 percent at the end of last year.

At least 32.5 million people are eligible to vote in the Feb. 24 poll.

Similar results also emerged from another survey last week by the Indonesia Strategic Institute (Insrat).

The survey found Ahmad-Dedy at the top of the list with 37.69 percent followed by Dede-Lex with 30.20 percent. Rieke-Teten (15.38 percent), Irianto-Tatang (12.44 percent) and Dikdik-Cecep (4.19 percent). About 37 percent of voters have yet to decide while 25 percent will not vote.

In Semarang, the Central Java General Elections Commission (KPUD) has been left with 27.4 million voters on its temporary voters roll (DPS) for the May 26 election after slashing 2.2 million voters from a provisional list.

KPUD member Andreas Pandiangan said the figure was reached after eliminating registered voters who had passed away or moved to other provinces, and fictitious names.

He said DPS lists had been posted across Central Java’s subdistricts and villages, and urged residents to check whether their names had been included on the list.

In Jayapura, five of the losing pairs of candidates in the Papua election filed suit on Monday with the Constitutional Court to protest at the Papua KPUD’s approval of the victory of Lukas Enembe and Klemen Tinal.

Benny said the investiture ceremony for the governor and vice governor would only be performed once there had been a decision by the Constitutional Court.

Nethy Darma Somba contributed to this article from Jayapura