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espite logistical problems and reported cases of vote manipulation, voters consider the General Elections Commission (KPU) to have done a good job in organizing the 2014 legislative election.

A survey conducted by Washington-based International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) and the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) found that the majority of respondents were satisfied with the election body'€™s performance and the quality of the election.

The survey found that 74 percent of respondents were satisfied with the KPU'€™s efforts in ensuring a free and fair election.

It also found that 82 percent of the respondents were either satisfied or very satisfied with how the election went.

'€œThe majority of Indonesian people have a positive evaluation on the process of the general election on April 9,'€ IFES said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

From this figure, 9 percent said they were very satisfied with the election, while 73 percent said they were somewhat satisfied.

'€œEighty-eight percent of them also said that the legislative election was well organized, while 80 percent deemed the election to be honest and fair,'€ the survey report said.

The margin of error of the survey, in which 2,009 people in 33 provinces were interviewed from June 1 to 10, is 2.3 percent.

The survey also found that 67 percent were satisfied with the KPU'€™s efforts not be influenced by political pressure and to stay independent.

However, 26 percent of the respondents were convinced that the election'€™s final result had been manipulated in one way or another.

'€œThe concerns of vote manipulation could become a blemish, which in turn would decrease public trust in the election organizers,'€ the report said. '€œSo whether they want to or not, the attempt to decrease election fraud should be the KPU'€™s main focus for the next elections.'€

In spite of the opinion that the quality of elections was improving, 34 percent believed that vote-buying was more rampant this year than in the 2009 election.

Only 10 percent of the respondents thought otherwise, the survey found.

Other findings included that 15 percent claimed they had been offered money in exchange for their vote while other 5 percent said that they knew someone who had been offered money.

Twenty-nine percent of respondents also claimed that many legislative candidates helped local people by building public facilities as well as funding public events.

Forty-four percent of this figure said they voted for certain respondents as a result of such persuasion.

'€œThese things show that these kinds of activities can affect the election'€™s results significantly,'€ the report said.

In response to the survey, KPU commissioner Hadar Nafis Gumay said the findings were vindication of the election body for its hard work.

'€œAll this time, many people said that this year'€™s election was the most '€˜brutal'€™ and most disorganized. It turns out that the survey shows a different judgement,'€ he told the Post.

Hadar also said that the survey would motivate the KPU to work hard for the July 9 presidential election.

The survey showed that 94 percent of the respondents said they would vote in the presidential poll.

'€œI hope that they will show up and we will have a higher level of participation than in the legislative election,'€ he said.