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Final election debate benefits Ahok-Djarot: Analyst
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Incumbent gubernatorial candidate pair Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat and rival team Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno participate in an election debate at the Bidakara Hotel in Jakarta on Wednesday. The debate was the last official debate held by KPU Jakarta ahead of the runoff in the capital’s gubernatorial election.
(JP/Seto Wardhana.)
T
he Jakarta gubernatorial election’s final debate organized by the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta) last Wednesday may influence undecided and swing voters ahead of the second round of the election scheduled for April 19.
Sirojudun Abbas, a political researcher of Jakarta-based pollster Saiful Murjani Research and Consulting (SMRC), said the two-hour debate had not met the public’s high expectations on the so-called ‘last fight’ because it had lacked fiery exchanges of arguments between two candidate pairs, Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama – Djarot Saiful Hidayat and Anies Baswedan – Sandiaga Uno.
Still, the debate had managed to give Jakarta residents a better understanding of the vision and mission the two candidate pairs.
“In this last debate, each candidate really wanted to show which type of policy innovation they want to offer Jakarta residents,” Sirojudan said.
During the debate, Ahok tried to clarify the benefits of the land reclamation program for fishermen, local communities and businessmen, which he had not explained clearly in the previous debate.
“At several opportunities, he also pointed out Anies’ inconsistency on reclamation issues,” Sirojudan said. “This could be a weak point for Anies-Sandi.”
According to SMRC, gubernatorial debates can be quite effective for each in gaining support particularly from undecided and swing voters.
In the most recent survey commissioned by SMRC after a debate held on March 27 by Metro TV, Anies-Sandi secured 47.9 percent of would-be-votes, down 2.8 percentage points from the previous survey. Meanwhile, Ahok-Djarot increased their backing by 3.2 percentage points to 46.9 percent.
The same effect would likely happen after the final debate last Wednesday, Sirojudan said. (hol/ebf)
