Indonesian President’s lead over election rival dips: Survey
Survey shows president's support shrinking among mature millennials, baby boomers
JAKARTA : A new Indonesian election survey shows President Joko Widodo's big lead over his challenger, retired general Prabowo Subianto, is narrowing, just weeks ahead of next month's vote in the world's third-largest democracy.
The April 17 election will be a rerun of the 2014 race, in which Mr Joko beat Mr Prabowo by almost six percentage points.
A survey by pollster Litbang Kompas, which is part of Indonesia's biggest newspaper Kompas, shows Mr Joko likely to win 49.2 per cent of the vote, surpassing 37.4 per cent for Mr Prabowo.
Although still a double-digit lead, the electability gap in the survey between Feb 22 and March 5 was narrower than the Kompas survey in October that gave Mr Joko a 19.9-percentage point lead over his rival.
The President's campaign team is confident he will still win by a big margin, spokesman Meutya Hafid said in a statement.
"There are a number of indications why votes for Jokowi will be higher than in 2014," she said, referring to the President by a popular nickname.
"Jokowi will be able to grab votes from places that are normally the stronghold of candidate number two (Mr Prabowo), such as West Java," Ms Meutya said, referring to Indonesia's most populous province.
The latest Kompas survey showed Mr Joko's support may be shrinking among mature millennials aged between 31 and 40, as well as baby boomers.
After a slow beginning, the six-month campaign has picked up pace, with televised debates between the candidates and rallies held across the archipelago of more than 17,000 islands.
Some analysts say the debates were a missed opportunity for Mr Prabowo, while the President has appeared workman-like in projecting his achievements in areas such as infrastructure while in office.
But the challenger's running mate, private equity tycoon Sandiaga Uno, has appeared to generate a buzz on the campaign trail while proving popular online, especially with women and young voters.
Mr Sandiaga attacked Mr Joko's track record on education and healthcare last weekend, saying his government would be able to solve Indonesia's problems in education and large deficits in health insurance.
Last week, the anti-graft agency named a prominent politician backing Mr Joko's re-election campaign a suspect in a bribery case, which could further dent his campaign. - REUTERS
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