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Agus meets pastors ahead of election
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Charta Politika Yunarto Wijaya shows the press a graphic on the Jakarta gubernatorial candidates' electability on Feb. 1. Charta's survey results showed Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat got 36.8 percent, followed by Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno with 27 percent and trailing last was Agus Yudhoyono-Sylviana Murni with 25.9 percent. A former frontrunner in several polls, Agus' electability has been declining. (Antara/Widodo S. Jusuf)
J
akarta gubernatorial candidate Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, whose support base is largely comprised of conservative Muslims, held a meeting with numerous Protestant pastors on Friday evening.
The meeting was held closed-door at Oasis Amir Hotel in Senen, Central Jakarta, amid declining support for Agus and his running mate Sylviana Murni over the last two months, according to pollsters.
"As it was a closed-door meeting, the contents of the discussion cannot be published," Agus-Sylviana campaign team spokesperson Rico Rustombi told The Jakarta Post.
A campaign team member said around 30 pastors were present at the meeting. Two pastors questioned by the Post after the meeting declined to comment.
Indikator Politik Indonesia, which in its survey released January put the Agus-Sylviana ticket in last place among the three candidate pairs vying for the capital’s top posts, found that the 78.8 percent of Protestant and Catholic respondents backed the incumbent Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat pair. An earlier survey by Saiful Mujani Research Center in October last year found that 95.7 percent of Protestant and Catholic respondents would vote for Ahok while Agus received zero support from the demographic.
Ahok, a Christian of Chinese descent, is in the middle of a blasphemy trial in relation to a comment he made in September that quoted a Quranic verse. During the height of Ahok's case in November and December, in which two large rallies took place, Agus' electability soared and placed him the frontrunner. (evi)
