After months of seeing himself struggle in last place in various polls and having even faced the threat of being eliminated from the first round of the gubernatorial race, a recent survey has put Jakarta gubernatorial candidate Anies Baswedan and running mate Sandiaga Uno as frontrunners for the seat.

In a survey that opened before the second debate, before closing several days later, Jakarta-based pollster Poltracking Indonesia showed Anies as having the highest electability with 31.5 percent of the votes, while incumbent Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama followed closely in second with 30.13 percent and Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono in third with 25.75 percent.

The survey result was also seen as a major setback for Agus, who previously held the top spot in various polls in November, during the height in drama revolved around Ahok’s alleged blasphemy.

In November, Poltracking showed Agus with 27.92 percent of the survey’s votes, while Ahok and Anies had 22 percent and 20.42 percent, respectively. Two months later the same pollster released a survey with Agus at 30.25 percent, Ahok at 28.88 percent and Anies at 28.63 percent.

From November to January, there were at least 13 surveys made from eight different pollsters. Only one of them, Polmark Indonesia, the consultant for Anies-Sandiaga, showed Anies as the frontrunner (25.3 percent), while Agus and Ahok sat at 23.9 percent and 20.4 percent, respectively.

Polmark’s founder, Eep Saefully, said his survey used credible methods despite his ties to Anies.

Four results showed Anies in second place with electability ranging from 23.8 percent to 31.1 percent, while the remaining eight results showed Anies in third.

Hanta Yudha of Poltracking said Wednesday there was still a big chance the results could change again nearing the election as 21.63 percent of the 800 respondents were swing voters and 12.87 percent were undecided.

Hanta said the survey showed that Anies was seen as the strongest in both debates with the best communication skills, while Ahok was seen as the most knowledgeable about Jakarta.

Agus on the other hand, he said, had his electability decline due to his performance in the debates, which experts called “unconvincing.”

Hanta said it was likely that the Jakarta election would enter the second round as none of the candidates showed signs of securing 50 percent of the votes. In such a scenario, only the top two vote-getters would advance to stay in the race.

Respondents of Poltracking’s survey most closely associated Anies with job creation, Ahok with his Jakarta Health Card (KJS) and Jakarta Smart Card (KJP) policies and Agus with his pledge to distribute Rp 1 billion to every community unit (RW) in the capital annually.

Anies said recently that with the voting day just around the corner, his campaign team, already having garnered the support of high-ranking figures across political lines, was working in “full speed.”

Besides Gerindra Party patron Prabowo Subianto, Prosperous Justice Party chairman Sohibul Iman and deputy advisory chairman Hidayat Nurwahid have publicly announced their support for Anies.

Also on Wednesday, another pollster Charta Politika released its survey results, which showed Ahok as the frontrunner (36.8 percent), Anies in second (27 percent) and Agus in third (25.9 percent).

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