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Election watchdog ready to investigate biased pollsters
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Jakarta Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) chairwoman Mimah Susanti (second right) and Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Sumarno (right) explain their election monitoring programs in a press conference in Jakarta on Jan. 6. (Antara/Rosa Panggabean)
T
he Jakarta Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) has said it will investigate pollsters suspected to have presented survey results not based on research and proper methodologies as such data can harm the electability of candidates.
Bawaslu Jakarta chairwoman Mimah Susanti said her agency had not yet carried out any investigations into possible foul play committed by pollsters, but it would take immediate action if any candidate pair reported them to Bawaslu.
“We have not yet received any [reports] so far,” Mimah told The Jakarta Post in an interview on Wednesday.
Mimah said pollsters played an important role in shaping public opinion and educating people in politics. Therefore, it was expected they remained neutral and impartial.
She further said any pollster found guilty of foul play in a survey would be sanctioned by the country’s pollster association in which the agency had already communicated with.
(Read also: No smear campaigns reported so far: Bawaslu)
Many pollsters have issued surveys to help voters become aware of the popularity and electability of candidates to help them choose in the simultaneous regional elections on Feb.15. Surprisingly, pollsters have been releasing varying survey results, leading to suspicions that some of them are not neutral and are not following proper scientific methodology in their survey sampling.
Mimah said it would better for all candidate pairs to have their own surveys instead of relying on the ones commissioned by external pollsters so that they could more accurately estimate their chances in the election. (ebf)
