Public Favors Presidential Candidates With Military Background

Jakarta, April 8 (Antara) - The public is still favoring presidential candidates with military background compared to those with civilian background, a survey conducted by Survey and Polling Indonesia (SPIN) stated on Tuesday. The SPIN`s survey was conducted between February 20 and March 20 in 33 provinces across Indonesia. Using multistage random sampling with 3 percent margin of error, the survey had participation from 1070 respondents from 33 provinces in Indonesia. Data was collected using interview technique with questionnaire guideline. There were equal number of men and women. "About 40.5 percent of our respondents want Indonesia to be led by a military-background president while only 21.4 percent want a civilian to be president," SPIN`s Executive Director Igor Dirgantara stated. According to Igor, the public is in favor of figures that can show courage and firm attitude. "The public is longing for a leader who can uplift national pride such as what had been done by former President Soekarno or Soeharto," he added. Meanwhile for vice presidential candidate, SPIN`s survey indicated that 38.4 percent respondents prefer a civilian figure, 25 percent want an entrepreneur, 18 percent want a figure from a political party and 15 percent want a woman to be vice president. There are two military-background presidential candidates so far in the 2014 election namely Lett Gen (ret) Prabowo Subianto from Gerindra party and Gen (ret) Wiranto from Hanura party. However there are other names that are likely to appear, as other political parties have not yet revealed their presidential candidate. Indonesia is holding two elections this year, namely the parliamentary election on April 9 and the presidential election on July 9. The scheduled parliamentary election is set to choose 550 members of the House of Representatives (DPR), 132 members of Regional Representatives Council (DPD), 2,137 members of provincial legislative assembly and 20,257 members of the district/city`s legislative assembly. About 185.8 million Indonesians are eligible to cast their vote in the 2014 election with 2.2 million among them living abroad. Those who live abroad cast their votes from March 30 to April 6 for the parliamentary elections. Their votes will be included in the electoral area of DKI Jakarta II, consisting of Central Jakarta and South Jakarta.