Kalla Predicted to be Most Favorite Presidential Candidate Pair

Jakarta - Former vice president Yusuf Kalla is predicted to become the most favorite presidential candidate pair in the coming presidential race next year, according to a survey. "Yusuf Kalla has high electability so that he is the most favorite pair, either as a presidential nominee or as a vice presidential aspirant," Yose Rizal, the director of PolitWave.com, said here on Wednesday. He said that Kalla became the most favorite pair of a would-be presidential or vice presidential nominee based on a survey in online media conducted from October to December 2012. Based on the results of the survey, Kalla was most favored to pair up with Prabowo Subianto, chairman of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) winning 37.23 percent of the respondent votes. The other option where Kalla is favored is that he pairs up with former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Straggule (23.78 percent), with Dahlan Iskan, incumbent state enterprise minister (15.10 percent) and economist Sri Mulyani, former finance minister (6.98 percent). "The positive aspect of Kalla is that he is acceptable to all parties," Yose said. Kalla's positive records included the overhaul of rice warehouse during the tsunami disaster in Aceh, his peace efforts in Aceh and Ambon, and his concrete action with regard to fuel oil price hikes, he said. "His status as a 'clean' figure and a successful businessman is also an added value of Kalla," said Yose. (*)