Jakarta – The Golkar Party is the strongest party in the country, according to recent surveys, which also show that the Democratic Party's popularity continues to wane amid a series of corruption scandals implicating its top executives.
The latest survey conducted by the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) shows that Golkar – which in the past served as a political vehicle to maintain former president Soeharto's decades-long authoritarian leadership – has again surpassed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party as the country's most popular political party.
"Golkar has become the strongest party since it launched its populist program in the regions, while at the same time the Democratic Party was getting entangled in the high-profile corruption scandal centered on [former party treasurer] Muhammad Nazaruddin," LSI researcher Ardian Sopa said in a press conference in Jakarta on Sunday.
In its June survey, the LSI found that 17.9 percent of respondents said that they would support Golkar in elections, while only 15.5 percent said they would opt for the President's party.
In its October survey, the Democrats managed to raise their approval rating to 16.5 percent but failed to beat Golkar, which attracted the support of 18.2 percent of 1,200 respondents in 33 provinces.
In the 2009 general election, the Democratic Party garnered 20.5 percent of the vote, followed by the Golkar Party at 14.45 percent and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) with 14.04 percent.
The survey's findings will come as a blow to Yudhoyono, who is now attempting to improve his administration's performance by conducting a Cabinet reshuffle ahead of the 2014 elections.
Critics, however, doubted that the reshuffle plan would boost his image, with many seeing it as nothing more than political horse-trading with his coalition partners.
The LSI survey also found that the approval rating of the party's figureheads – such as Ani Yudhoyono, Anas Urbaningrum, Edhie Wibowo and Marzuki Alie – had also declined, according to Ardian.
Meanwhile public support for the leading lights of other parties like Megawati Soekarnoputri of the PDI-P, Prabowo Subianto of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and Aburizal Bakrie of Golkar was rising.
The LSI claimed that the Democratic Party's recent decline against Golkar was connected the drop in Yudhoyono's approval rating. The President's public-approval rating has dropped to 46.2 percent this year, from 63.1 percent in January 2010 when he began his second term.
According to LSI, respondents were unsatisfied with the Yudhoyono government's performance in managing the economy, social issues, law enforcement, foreign affairs and politics.
"Regarding the economy, most respondents were unsatisfied with the rising prices of staple foods. In the social area, violence against minority groups is viewed as a major problem. As for law enforcement, people are disappointed with the poor handling of corruption cases," Ardian said.
Ardian added that in foreign affairs, the execution of Ruyati, an Indonesian migrant worker in Saudi Arabia, had become an issue of particular concern. Lastly, in the political field, respondents indicated their hopes that in the interest of stability the political atmosphere could become more consolidated.