A. Junaidi, Jakarta – Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Megawati Soekarnoputri have their work cut out for them in wooing undecided voters whose first picks fell by the wayside in the July 5 election, analysts say.

"The number of undecided voters is high, but it doesn't mean they will not vote in the runoff. So the candidates, particularly Megawati, should work hard to attract them," head of the research division of the Institute for Social and Economic Research, Education and Information (LP3ES) M. Husain said on Tuesday.

The latest survey by LP3ES on July 5 in 32 provinces revealed that 70 percent of 26 million people who voted for presidential candidate Wiranto from the Golkar Party were still undecided of whether to choose Susilo or Megawati.

The survey, involving 4,511 respondents with a margin of error of plus/minus 1.5 percent, also said that 74 percent of 17 million supporters of presidential candidate Amien Rais of the National Mandate Party (PAN) had not decided who to vote for in the runoff.

According to the survey, 84 percent of the 3.5 million people who voted for presidential candidate Hamzah Haz of the United Development Party (PPP) also had no idea who they would vote for next.

Of the more than 47 million voters who saw their candidates eliminated, 10 million preferred Susilo compared to only three million who would vote for Megawati, the survey says.

Voters considered the economy, basic needs and corruption eradication as the top priorities to be addressed, the survey found.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) announced on Monday that Susilo and Megawati, who secured 39.8 million and 31.56 million votes respectively, would contest the Sept. 20 runoff.

Among the 156 million registered voters, only 121 million voted in the July 5 election.

Another pollster, the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), released its survey result, which said that between 5 percent and 17 percent of supporters of eliminated candidates had not decided on their next preference.

The survey, which was conducted in 32 provinces between July 17 and July 19, said 5 percent of Golkar's supporters and 7.6 percent of the National Awakening Party's supporters, whose parties nominated Wiranto, had not decided on who to vote for next.

About 16.7 percent of PAN supporters and 7.7 percent of the supporters of the Prosperous Justice Party, which also nominated Amien, and 11 percent of PPP supporters had also not decided on their new preferences. The survey involved 1,200 respondents with a margin of error of 3 percent.

"It appears that the majority of supporters of the eliminated candidates will vote for Susilo and only a small number will choose Megawati," LSI's director M. Qodari said.

Qodari said the survey showed that 68 percent of the respondents would vote for Susilo, 23 percent for Megawati and 9 percent were still undecided.

The survey did not include around 34 million registered voters who did not cast their ballots in July.

Political observer Indria Samego said the two candidates, especially Megawati, would need to work extra hard to woo the undecided voters and improve her vote gain.

"Megawati's team should think hard about how to woo more supporters in the two months left," Indria of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said.

He said the candidates should increase their popularity through television ads since the survey showed that most of the voters were much influenced by ads.

He said grassroots support was more vital for the candidates, instead of support from the political elite since voters were independent.