Budiarti Utami Putri, Jakarta – Pelita Harapan University political communication expert Emrus Sihombing argues that the lacking performance of political parties backing presidential candidate Joko "Jokowi" Widodo drove the incumbent's stagnant electability.

"I conclude that the political party machine has not performed," said Emrus in Central Jakarta on Wednesday.

Emrus' analysis follows the Litbang Kompas survey published on Wednesday, March 20, announcing the electability of Jokowi-Ma'ruf that scored 49.2 percent compared to the country's opposition Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno scoring 37.4 percent and 13.4 percent choosing not to disclose their political preference.

Despite the gap, the electability of Jokowi-Ma'ruf Amin is a drop compared to the poll's result in October of 2018, where the incumbent scored 52.6 percent. An improvement was seen by Prabowo's camp that is on a rise compared to last year's 32.7 percent electability.

According to Emrus, Jokowi's campaigns could be even more effective if only the 10 political parties backing Jokowi campaigns using a grass root-type campaign. Other than that, he argues Jokowi is currently still busy showcasing achievements of the administration he led which should have been tasked on each State Ministry's public communication bureau.

Meanwhile, Emrus sees that Prabowo Subianto's campaign team is able to maximize their efforts on campaigning the former commander of Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) through a grassroots movement.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1187629/political-expert-dissects-jokowis-slight-electability-drop