Safrin La Batu, Jakarta – Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama may lose his reelection bid in the first round after being named a suspect in a blasphemy case, while former culture and education minister Anies Baswedan could be in a leading position, a pollster has predicted.

The Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) released the results of a survey on Friday, which was carried out from Oct. 31 to Nov. 5, before Ahok was named a blasphemy suspect. In the survey the LSI asked 440 respondents who they would vote for if the National Police named Ahok a suspect.

According to the survey, Ahok's electability rating would slump to 10.60 percent if he were named a suspect. Meanwhile, support for Anies would increase to 31.90 percent, followed by former mid-ranking military officer Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono in second place, with 30.90 percent.

"Ahok and Djarot [Djarot Sjaiful Hidayat – Ahok's running mate] have the possibility of losing in the first round of the election [if the election goes into two cycles] because the pair now has a lower [rating] than the other two pairs of candidates," LSI said in a statement.

Before the question was asked, Ahok was favored by 24.60 percent of respondents, which put him as the frontrunner, leaving Agus and Anies in the second and third place, with 20.90 and 20 percent of votes, respectively.

The police named Ahok a suspect in a blasphemy case on Wednesday. (jun)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/11/18/pre-suspect-status-poll-suggests-anies-now-on-top.html