A survey released by pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia on Thursday showed Anies and Ahok emerging as two of the three top-of-mind prospective candidates among respondents who were asked to name a figure they would vote for if the election were held today.

Both Anies and Ahok fought in the 2017 gubernatorial election, widely considered an election marred by sectarian politics. Anies won the election, while Ahok was subsequently found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to two years in prison.

In the open-ended query in the Indikator Politik survey, Anies emerged as the frontrunner with 39.7 percent of respondents favoring him, followed by Ahok with 23.8 percent. Trailing behind them was former West Java governor Ridwan Kamil with 13.1 percent.

The two former Jakarta governors also consistently emerged as the top-two choices among respondents across various simulations of different prospective candidates in the survey. Indikator polled 800 respondents of voting age across Jakarta from June 18 to 26, and the results of the survey had a 3.5 percent margin of error with a 95 percent confidence level.

Anies, who served as Jakarta governor from 2017 to 2023, however, came out top in the head-to-head simulation between him and Ahok, with 52 percent of respondents favoring him over Ahok, who received only 42 percent support.

“[Ahok] doesn't have a strong enough appeal to attract Ridwan’s voters in the head-to-head simulation,” Indikator Politik executive director Burhanuddin Muhtadi said, noting that this is in part due to Ahok’s “historical burden that leaves his support stagnant and unable to attract support from the conservative Muslim base in Jakarta”.