Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Apathy about Jakarta's gubernatorial election kept a significant number of registered voters away from polling booths, surveyors say.

The Institute of Research, Education and Information on Social and Economic Affairs (LP3ES) found that more than 75 percent of the survey's 1,128 respondents would "rather have been anywhere else" – from a holiday resort to behind their desk at work – than at a polling station on election day.

The respondents were among the some 2.1 million registered voters who did not cast their ballots early this month, or 34.6 percent of the 5.7 million people who were registered to vote. They said they might have been more interested if there had been more than two candidates in the running.

"Basically, there was no compelling issue or event in the election that triggered their interest in voting. They could not see that voting would affect their lives," said LP3ES researcher Agung Prihatna.

Negative issues shrouding the election process – from errors in the voter registration process to humdrum campaigns that failed to catch voters' attention – worsened this condition, he said.

Jakarta's first direct election was a head-to-head battle between Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo and retired police general Adang Daradjatun, previously the deputy chief of the National Police.

Adang made his willingness to instigate change the central theme of his campaign, while Fauzi promised to promote diversity and used his years of experience in the administration to get voters on side.

The Jakarta Elections Commission reported that each campaign team spent more than Rp 46 billion (US$4.8 million), mostly on media announcements – including advertisements, production costs and placements.

Despite their costly media campaigns, the candidates still did things the old-fashioned way, holding public meetings that were more about everyone having a good time than their political platforms. The meetings were also held on weekdays, when most Jakartans are working.

Political observer Paul Rowland of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) said voters in Jakarta were behaving just like other voters in the world's well-established democracies, in terms of their political reasons for voting or not voting.

He cited as an example Americans waning lack of interest in elections during the Bush administration. "The challenge here is to provide a better political education from the school system, with more emphasis on 'why' one should vote and less on 'how' to vote," Paul said.

Paul said that nonprofit organizations and political parties should work together to raise election awareness. "Group discussions in low-participation communities, as well as frequent public debates between candidates during the election, would encourage people to participate in the election," he said.

During the campaign season, there was only one public debate between the candidates, which was all over in less than an hour.