Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama is considered by Jakartans to be performing well as governor, and is the frontrunner for the next gubernatorial elections, according to a survey revealed on Monday.

The poll by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) suggests that 94 percent of Jakarta residents are familiar with Ahok and 45 percent will vote for him in next year's election.

The CSIS conducted the survey on 400 respondents between Jan. 5 and 9.

"It will be hard to compete against Ahok," CSIS researcher Arya Fernandes said in a press conference on Monday.

Ahok's performance is seen largely in a good light, with 67 percent of residents expressing satisfaction with him. This was a decent result for the governor, Arya said, given he had been in office for only a year.

Then deputy governor Ahok took up the governorship on Nov. 19, 2014, replacing Joko "Joko" Jokowi, who had been elected President.

According to the survey, a majority believe that Ahok has brought about positive change in the capital city, especially in health care, infrastructure and the bureaucracy.

Ahok was deemed successful in realizing the promises of his and Jokowi'€™s election campaign, fought under the slogan "New Jakarta".

The survey also notes that 42.5 percent of respondents appreciate Ahok'€™s straightforward manner and trademark bluntness.

With nearly 45 percent of respondents saying they would vote for him, possible rivals Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini and Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil are decidedly lagging behind the incumbent.

Still, Risma and Ridwan score better in likability, with first (85.54%) and second position (85.02%), respectively, while Ahok follows with 71.39 percent.

The results of the survey suggest that political parties should announce their potential candidates for next year'€™s election before Ahok, who has said he will run as an independent, cements his lead further.

"It is important for political parties to announce their candidates as soon as possible so the public can evaluate them the year before the election," said CSIS executive director Philips J. Vermonte.

Independent candidate

Most of the respondents said they preferred independent candidates to those supported by political parties, with Arya stressing that the result showed the depth of public distrust of political parties.

'€œIn gubernatorial elections, the public worries about transactional politics and political '€˜dowries'€™,'€ he said.

In September 2014, former East Belitung regent Ahok resigned from the Gerindra Party, which supported him in the 2012 gubernatorial election.

Independent candidacies are permitted after the Constitutional Court issued a verdict in September allowing independent candidates to run in regional elections provided they are backed by at least 7.5 percent of the people on the final voter list (DPT) of the previous general election.

With 7,096,168 Jakartans listed on the DPT from the 2014 general election, an independent contender needs at least 532,000 declarations of support.

Teman Ahok, a group that works to gather support for Ahok to run as an independent candidate, had collected around 630,000 IDs belonging to Jakartans, group spokesperson Amalia Ayuningtyas said on Monday as reported by kompas.com.

While the number of IDs had surpassed that required by the Constitutional Court, Amalia said the group aimed for another 370,000 IDs to reach a totemic 1 million pledges of support. (rin)

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