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recent opinion poll by a prominent national pollster has resulted in an intriguing outcome: a former corruption convict has been revealed to be a potential front-runner in the upcoming gubernatorial election in South Sulawesi, one of the most populous provinces in Indonesia.

A survey by Poltracking Indonesia released on Sunday showed that ex-graft convict Nurdin Halid, who plans to run for governor with running mate Abdul Aziz Qahhar Mudzakkar, came out on top with 19.79 percent of the 800 respondents saying they would vote for the pair.

South Sulawesi is one of 171 provinces, regencies and cities set to hold regional elections in June, next year.

The Ichsan Yasin Limpo-Andi Mudzakkar pair came second with 17.39 percent, followed by Nurdin Abdullah-Tanribali Lamo (16.37 percent) and Agus Arifin Nu’mang-Aliyah Mustika Ilham (8.95 percent).

The Nurdin-Aziz ticket has officially been backed by the Golkar Party and the NasDem Party, while the Ichsan-Andi ticket has received support from the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Mandate Party (PAN).

The other two pairs have been touted to run but as of Monday had yet to garner official support from political parties.

In the survey, which was conducted from Aug. 10 to 17, 37.5 percent of respondents were still undecided.

According to Poltracking, both the Nurdin-Aziz and Ichsan-Andi pairings garnered high electability ratings because they had officially declared to run for governor.

The 58-year-old outspoken politician Nurdin, who is now the executive chairman of Golkar, has twice been convicted of corruption.

In 2007, Nurdin, in his capacity as then Indonesia Distribution Cooperatives (KDI) chairman, was found guilty in a graft case related to the distribution of cooking oil belonging to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

Previously in 2005, the former Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) chairmen from 2003 to 2011 was found guilty of corruption related to customs clearance of rice imports from Vietnam, in his capacity as then Primary Cooperative Associations (Inkud) chairman, and was sentenced to two years and six months in prison.

Political analyst from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Arya Fernandes said Nurdin was popular mainly because he was a member of the Halid family, which had strong popularity among South Sulawesi people.

“Such a kinship factor is dominant in South Sulawesi. Not to mention that he is backed by Golkar, a party that is also dominant in the province,” Arya said. Such a factor could be strong enough “that the people forget that Nurdin is a former graft convict,” he said.

Political communication expert Firdaus Muhammad of the Alauddin Makassar Islamic University said Nurdin could also enjoy rising electability thanks to Golkar’s performance as his “political vehicle.”

Some South Sulawesi residents, however, were surprised by the survey’s result.

Abdul Kadir, 45, from the province’s capital Makassar, said Nurdin’s record as a former graft convict should not be ignored and said that the province needed a better and honest leader.

“We are sick of corruption cases committed by regional leaders. It’s impossible for us to vote for a candidate who was once involved in graft. We don’t want to be led by that kind of person,” he said Kadir.

According to the 2016 Regional Elections Law, a former convict may run for regional leadership only if he or she has been declared publicly as a former convict and admitted his or her wrongdoing.

A number of former corruption convicts have run for regional leadership positions in the past.

In 2012, then Solok regent in West Sumatra, Gusmal, was found guilty and sentenced to two years and six months in prison.

Three years later, he won the regional election in the regency and has since become Solok regent again.