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s the Jakarta election draws near, pollsters are releasing their survey results to help candidates understand public opinion of them while of course promoting their names at the same time. However, survey results have often differed from one firm to another, causing suspicion about the independency of the pollsters.

A survey released last week by the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI), for example, showed that young voters would flock to Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and his running mate Sylviana Murni in next year’s election.

These results conflicted with the one released previously by Public Opinion and Policy Research (Populi), which showed Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama and his running mate Djarot Sjaiful Hidayat as having the highest electability rating among young voters, with Agus ranking last.

The LSI survey, held from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2, showed that 33.80 percent of voters aged 19 or below would vote for Agus compared to only 27.80 percent of the 440 respondents involved in the survey who preferred Ahok, in last place. Meanwhile, former culture and education minister Anies Baswedan and his running mate businessman Sandiaga Uno ranked second with 30.80 percent opting for him.

For the age cluster ranging from 20 to 29, the LSI survey showed that while Agus still led, Ahok and Anies switched positions. Agus was chosen by 28.10 percent of the respondents in that age group, followed by Ahok and Anies with 22.80 percent and 21.10 percent, in second and third place, respectively.

Populi’s survey, however, showed that 46.7 percent of young voters aged between 17 and 25 would vote for Ahok, followed by Anies with 28.3 percent and Agus with 13.3 percent.

Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, senior researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Knowledge (LIPI), doubted the survey by LSI, claiming it was ordered by a candidate.

“The survey by LSI was held by a consultant of a candidate,” Ikrar said right after the release of the survey on Friday as quoted by Antara.

Ikrar pointed out, for example, that while the survey claimed that the majority of Muslim voters, 55 percent of them, up from 40 percent in March, would likely avoid Ahok, it also found Ahok to be favored by 27.7 percent of Muslim voters, compared to only 22.8 percent for Anies and 20.6 percent for Agus.

“So is this survey independent or was it paid to influence opinion?” he questioned.

LSI has claimed that its survey was self-funded.

On Monday, Jakarta General Elections Commission head Sumarno said that in order to keep pollsters objective and non-partisan later during the campaign period, his commission would require all pollsters wanting to make a poll to be registered at his commission.

LSI’s survey also showed a different result with the polling previously held by Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) about how sectarian issues would influence voters in the election.

While LSI argued that sectarian issues, despite being considered bad for democratic progress, played a significant role in influencing voters’ decisions in the election, SMRC said religious and ethnic sentiments alike would not impact voters as people living in Jakarta are predominantly rational voters who base their decisions on candidates’ performances rather than on primordial things like ethnic and religious backgrounds.

SMRC recently told The Jakarta Post that only around 12 percent to a maximum 20 percent of all voters would be influenced by religious sentiments.