Jokowi Maintains Lead in Survey of Presidential Candidates

Jakarta (Antara) - A recent survey showed Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo continued to maintain lead over other potential presidential candidates. Jokowi as he is popularly known, would win 31.8 percent of the votes if election was held now, a survey by Freedom Foundation said. "The result of our survey showed that Jokowi has an electability of 31.8 percent," Riset Freedom Foundations director Muhammad Nabil said here on Sunday. Jokowi, however, is not yet named a presidential candidate by his Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), which is chaired by former President Megawati Soekarnoputri. Megawati who holds the mandate to name the candidate for the opposition party said she would name the presidential candidate after the legislative elections next month. The presidential elections would follow later this year. Many believe Megawati herself still wants the job even if she has only a slim chance after her failure to retake the presidency in two previous bids against the incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Nabil said Jokowi led far ahead of other would be contenders among the country's political leaders. Second in the lead is Prabowo Subianto, a candidate of the Gerindra Party having only 11.3 percent of the votes, followed by Aburizal Bakrie, the candidate of the Golkar party with 8.3 percent. A number of other candidates managed only to win less than 7 percent of the votes such as Dahlan Iskan from the ruling party. Nabil said the survey was held from January 27 to February 26 in 34 provinces with 1,090 respondents. (*)