Several candidates running in the upcoming regional elections on the ticket of President Prabowo Subianto’s big-tent electoral alliance, the Indonesia Onward Coalition (KIM), appeared to be struggling to maintain their leads in recent opinion polls, indicating the ineffectiveness of the extensive political machinery backing them.

Among the KIM-backed candidates whose prospects of winning has been outpaced by rivals is Golkar Party Jakarta gubernatorial candidate Ridwan Kamil and running mate Suswono from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), whose popularity has backslid from 51.8 percent in September to 37.4 percent in October according to pollster Lembaga Survei Indonesia (LSI).

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) house candidate pair Pramono Anung and Rano Karno on the other hand has seen its electability rate skyrocket only weeks prior to the Nov. 27 poll, from 28.4 percent to 41.6 percent based on the same survey conducted shorty after first election debate in early October.

Furthermore, the most recent survey by Litbang Kompas taken between Oct. 20 and 25 showed the Pramono-Rano pair taking a narrow lead over the Ridwan-Suswono pair by four percentage points as the former received 38.3 percent and the latter commanded 34.6 percent. 

Meanwhile, independent candidate Dharma Pongrekun and running mate Kun Wardana remained at the bottom and polled in the single digits in both surveys. 

Read also: More than half of Jakartans have made their choice for governor

A closer look at the Litbang Kompas survey, which interviewed 800 respondents selected through random and stratified sampling, showed that KIM supporters are divided when it comes to choosing their preferred candidates in Jakarta. 

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