Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Less than six months before the 2009 legislative elections in April, the public still have no idea about when they will take place, according to a survey released Friday by the General Elections Commission (KPU).

Sixty-one percent of 2,500 voters involved in the survey said they did not know the elections would be held next April, with only 12 percent providing the right answer.

The survey, jointly conducted by the KPU, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and the Polling Center, sought to determine the public's perception about next year's elections, four months after the KPU began collecting the information.

The survey was conducted from August to September in 25 provinces across the country.

Yanti Sugarda from the Polling Center said 26 percent of respondents claimed they knew nothing about the elections, 54 percent had some information and only 2 percent were well-informed.

While most respondents admitted knowing little, they remained enthusiastic about taking part in the elections.

"Eighty four percent of respondents said they would participate in the legislative elections and 75 percent said they were ready to cast their votes in the presidential election. We have determined that one out of eight Indonesian people are interested in taking part," she said.

The respondents said the information they desired was about candidacy, where and when to vote, participating political parties, registration, districting, campaigns, voting procedures, how to mark the ballot paper, vote counting and how candidates are chosen.

"The people also need to know about the exact date of the elections," Yanti said. KPU member Endang Sulastri said the distribution of the survey results was not yet optimal.

"With all our shortcomings, we have been trying our best to publicize the information by cooperating with related stakeholders. We will use the results of this survey to intensify our efforts," Endang said.

Concerning the public's eagerness to vote, she said the survey showed the public strongly support the elections. "In fact, it boosts our spirit amid the perception that our people are very apathetic and prefer to abstain from voting."

She said the KPU was currently preparing television advertisements to be broadcast soon in a move to raise people's awareness of the elections.

The KPU has allocated Rp 15 billion to promote the results publicly, including the publication of lists of legislative candidates and eligible voters.