63 Percent Voters still not Knowing Whom to Choose

Surabaya, E Java (Antara) - Sixty-three percent of voters are found to have not known yet who they would choose in the legislative elections on April 9, according to a survey. "Precisely, 63.4 percent of voters have not yet had candidates to represent them at the national parliament (DPR) while the rest of the 36.6 percent have," the head of the Communications Study Center of state Airlangga University in Surabaya, East Java, Suko Widodo, informed newsmen explaining the results of the center's recent survey here on Friday. For legislative members at the provincial legislative assemblies (DPRD I) meanwhile, only 29.9 percent have claimed to have already had their choices while 70.1 percent others have not. Suko Widodo explained that the conditions were different from that for district/city legislative assemblies (DPRD II) in which, 60 percent of voters claimed they have already had candidates, while 40 percent have not. "This means legislative candidates at district/city levels have closer relationship with the voters," Widodo, who is a lecturer of the Faculty of Social and Political Science of the Airlangga University, pointed out. He added that although many were skeptical about politics, the people's interest to participate in the elections was still high. He stressed that 91.2 percent of the people have stated they would use their right to vote, 69.9 percent of them citing citizens' obligation. "Those who are still undecided total 6.7 percent while those who have decided not to vote total 2.1 percent," he remarked. The survey involving 1.2 thousand respondents was done in a number of cities/districts in East Java for 10 days from March 10-20. (*)