Jakarta – More than 150 million eligible voters desperately need more information on various facets of the electoral process to make sure that they will vote correctly during balloting day, according to a survey.
The survey, which was conducted by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in early March and involved 1,200 respondents in 19 provinces, discovered that 84 percent of respondents wanted more information on candidacy requirements, 83 percent on vote-counting procedures, 81 percent on participating political parties, 80 percent on where and when to vote, and 74 percent wanted more information on voter registration.
"Overall, the majority of Indonesians still believe that they do not have either enough or any information at all on the electoral process.
"Twenty-two percent report they have a great deal or fair amount of information on the 2009 elections, while 76 percent report that they have little or no information. Large majorities in both rural and urban areas cite little or no information," IFES said in a press release on Wednesday.
Compared to the October 2008 IFES survey, a far higher percentage of the people in this survey said that they were aware that the parliamentary elections would take place in April but this significant increase has not translated to the presidential elections as only 11 percent were aware of the July presidential race.
According to the latest survey, more than eight in 10 people were able to name a correct method to vote in the elections for the House of Representatives, provincial, regency and municipal legislatures, and 40 percent indicated that marking the name of only one party was correct, 30 percent cited the marking of one candidate's name, and 15 percent mentioned that one could select one party and then have the option of selecting one candidate from that party. All of these methods of voting have been deemed acceptable by the KPU.
The General Elections Commission (KPU) is an independent institution mandated by the law to organize the general and local elections but only 45 percent of the people were aware of the polling body, while 40 percent were aware of the Election Supervising Body (Bawaslu).
IFES however was worried about a low voter turnout in the legislative election because according to the survey only 13 percent said they were very likely to vote and 84 percent said they were only somewhat likely to vote.
Eligible voters said they would vote for an electoral candidate based on personality and performance. According to the survey, 34 percent would vote for a particular party based on its performance and 22 percent because of its leader.
When asked about their political preference, 30 percent supported President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, 18.8 percent backed the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and 15.2 percent supported the Golkar Party.
The newcomer Gerindra (Great Indonesia Movement Party) was predicted to win 6.5 percent while the Islamic Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) would likely gain only 5 percent.