Jakarta – A survey released Saturday has revealed presidential candidate Jusuf Kalla and his running mate Wiranto benefited the most from the series of televised debates ran for the first time in Indonesia in the lead up to next week's election.

The latest survey conducted by the Indonesian Development Monitoring Institute (IDM) between June 1 and 16, involving 3,700 respondents from across the country's 33 provinces, found the popularity of the Kalla-Wiranto ticket jumped from 13.2 percent to 26.57 percent compared to the previous survey.

The Megawati Soekarnoputri-Prabowo Subianto ticket remained in the lead in terms of support generated from the television debates on 44.28 percent, relatively unchanged from the previous survey. The IDM survey concluded that the debates had not worked in favor of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his running mate Boediono, with their popularity levels slipping to 27.15 percent from an earlier 30.43 percent.

IDM executive director Dwi Mardianto said Yudhoyono's campaign team was responsible for this decline, with some members making controversial statements during rallies. "The latest such blunder was committed by Andi Mallarangeng when he said it was not time for a South Sulawesi candidate to be president," Mardianto said.