Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Most people in the country believe all political parties offer empty promises and are unable to change Indonesia for the better, a survey released Friday shows.

The survey was jointly conducted in June by Quest Research and the Institute of Social and Political Science (IISIP), and involved 14,229 respondents in 20 provinces throughout the country.

The survey shows that more than 70 percent of respondents believed all political parties are content with maintaining the status quo and are not committed to change.

Some 67.7 percent said the parties were "bad" because they fought for themselves, offered false promises, did not care for the public and failed to improve welfare.

"This is a warning for the parties to fix themselves ahead of the upcoming elections," Heruwasto of Quest Research told a press briefing to announce the survey results.

However, 74.5 percent of respondents said they would vote in the 2009 legislative election, while 8.9 percent said they would abstain from voting and 16.5 percent said they were undecided.

Some 24.8 percent of respondents selected the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to be the party most able to make changes in the country, while 20.7 percent chose the Golkar Party and 20.7 percent the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party and the National Mandate Party (PAN) were four and five with 15.7 and 8.6 percent, respectively.

When asked which party they would vote for if the election were held today, 26 percent chose the Golkar Party and 25.7 percent the PDI-P.

The Democratic Party and PKS tied for number three with around 12 percent each, followed by the National Awakening Party (PKB) and PAN in four and five with 6.9 and 6.6 percent, respectively. The United Development Party (PPP) was seven with 4.4 percent.

Among the new parties to contest the election, the Democratic Reform Party (PDP) ranked the best, with 2.3 percent.

However, the survey shows that only 18 percent of the respondents selected a party in the category, with the rest undecided.

"Over 40 percent of respondents said they would wait (to hear) party programs, and the other 30 percent were confused and said they would wait until days before the election to make a decision," said IISIP researcher Syafuan Rozi Soebhan.

He said the high level of undecided voters indicated that parties still had the potential to win over large numbers of voters in the campaign period.