TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Survey shows that voters choose figures, not parties
The fact that presidential contenders like Joko âJokowiâ Widodo and Prabowo Subianto are more popular than their respective parties, shows that Indonesian voters are more drawn to political figures than party platforms, according to a recent survey
Change Size
T
he fact that presidential contenders like Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and Prabowo Subianto are more popular than their respective parties, shows that Indonesian voters are more drawn to political figures than party platforms, according to a recent survey.
The Jakarta-based Charta Politika has found that supporters of most of the major parties said they would vote for the parties because they were drawn to the parties' leaders or presidential candidates.
'This finding indicates a symptom of what is called 'idol democracy' wherein political parties tend to merely serve as fan-club organizers that build a cult of personality around certain figures to lure more voters,' Charta Politika director Yunarto Wijaya said on Wednesday.
The survey, carried out from March 1 to 8 and involving 1,200 respondents, found that Jokowi's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) was the most popular party, with 21.2 percent of respondents saying they would vote for its candidates.
The Golkar Party came in second with 16.4 percent, followed by Prabowo's Gerindra Party (12 percent) and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party (8 percent).
Of respondents, 32.6 percent said they would vote for Jokowi and 13.9 percent for Prabowo.
When asked why they would vote for a certain party, 57.8 percent of those who said they would vote for PDI-P said it was because they were attracted to Jokowi. Only 11.2 percent said because they supported the party's commitment to defend wong cilik (a Javanese term for the poor and disadvantaged).
'In our similar study in December, last year, the Jokowi factor only accounted for 38.1 percent of those supporting PDI-P,' Yunarto said, suggesting that Jokowi's idol status had grown stronger ahead the April 9 legislative and July 9 presidential elections.
Similarly, as many as 47.9 percent of Gerindra supporters in the survey said they supported the party because Prabowo was its leader. Only about 34 percent said they were attracted to the party's platforms, which promote the interests of farmers, fishermen and street vendors.
As many as 38.2 percent of Democratic Party supporters said they stood behind the ruling party because they liked Yudhoyono, the party's chairman, while 40 percent of Hanura Party's supporters said chairman and presidential nominee Wiranto was the reason for their support.
However, supporters of Golkar, the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the United Development Party (PPP) placed less importance on party figures, another Charta Politika analyst, Arya Hernandez, said.
As many as 32.8 percent of Golkar supporters, for example, said they would vote for the party because the party carried on the legacy of former president Soeharto's New Order. Only 18.6 percent mentioned the party's chairman and presidential candidate Aburizal Bakrie as a factor.
Among PKB supporters, 39.1 percent said it was because the party represented the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia's largest Islamic organization. However, 31.3 percent said their support stemmed from fondness for deceased former PKB chief advisor Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid, a former president.
PDI-P executive Maruarar Sirait admitted that Jokowi's popularity boosted the party's image, but that the party would work to gain support for its own merits. 'Indeed, we need to conduct an evaluation following the survey's finding. I agree that ideally, the major factors should be parties' ideology, manifesto and platform,' he said.
