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Marginalized groups rational in 2014 election: Study

Voters belonging to marginalized groups in Magelang, Central Java, and Yogyakarta were more rational and tended to ignore sociological and psychological factors (ethnicity, family kinship and religious-related matters) in choosing legislative member candidates during the 2014 legislative election, said a survey report released on Tuesday

Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post)
Yogyakarta
Tue, October 21, 2014

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Marginalized groups rational in 2014 election: Study

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oters belonging to marginalized groups in Magelang, Central Java, and Yogyakarta were more rational and tended to ignore sociological and psychological factors (ethnicity, family kinship and religious-related matters) in choosing legislative member candidates during the 2014 legislative election, said a survey report released on Tuesday.

The Voters'€™ Behavior and Linkage Patterns between People and Politicians research '€” commissioned by the political and governance study program at the University of Gadjah Mada'€™s (UGM) School of Social and Political Sciences '€” showed that in the 2014 election, most respondents focused on the performance of House of Representatives members and their political parties from the previous period.

'€œThey tended to consider whether the House members and their parties had given economic benefits to their constituents and whether they would likely bring similar benefits in the next five years,'€ said Nur Azizah, one of the research team'€™s members, during the launch of the report at the university'€™s campus in Yogyakarta on Tuesday.

The research used a quantitative method by interviewing 300 respondents in Magelang and Yogyakarta in the period from July 15 to July 23. A number of the respondents were from groups focused on women, workers or people with disabilities, while 75 respondents were from the general public.

'€œThese findings are interesting because such rational choices have assumed that voters are able to score political issues promoted by the legislative candidates despite the fact that they only have low educational backgrounds '€” only elementary school and junior high school [level],'€ said Azizah.

She said increases in rational considerations were proof of increasing political education conducted by political parties, politicians, community leaders and organizations.

Azizah said the survey revealed that around 90 percent of respondents said they used their voting rights as voting was compulsory for all Indonesian citizens.

'€œThey have quite good political awareness,'€ she said. (ebf)(+++)

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