SBY-BOEDIONO CAMP UPBEAT ELECTION TO RUN IN ONE ROUND

Jakarta, June 19 (ANTARA) - The Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono- Boediono ticket's success team is optimistic the July 8 presidential election will be completed in only one round, a spokesman said.

"The election will not run in two rounds because the SBY-Boediono duo is predicted to gain a land-slide victory or rank far ahead of the two other presidential candidates," SBY-Boediono national campaign team spokesman Ramadhan Pohan said here on Friday.

He said data from success teams in each district across the country which had been closely monitoring the people's electoral preferences up to three weeks before polling day had shown the SBY-Boediono pair to be the people's most favored choice.

"The people of Indonesia, especially those in the regions, still trust Yudhoyono as president and therefore we are optimistic that the election will not run in two rounds," Ramadhan said.

Asked about the results of recent polls indicating a decline in Yudhoyono's popularity, Ramadhan said the polls could not be trusted one hundred percent.

"We believe in the people more than in the results of polls," Ramadhan said, adding that Yudhoyono's visits to more than 300 areas in Indonesia this year had increased the people's enthusiasm and trust in the presidential candidate from the Democratic Party.

"To have direct encounters with the people is the most effective way to win their sympathy and trust, and thus we are optimistic that the election will proceed in one round," Ramadhan said.

Meanwhile, presidential aspirant Megawati Soekarnoputri and her running mate Prabowo Subianto (Mega-Pro duo) success team in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) is unaffected by the ongoing polemics about whether the presidential election will run in one or two rounds.

"We don't care about the polemics on the election rounds, because it will be determined by the voters and not by the observers or survey institutes," NTT Mega-Pro success team chairman Kristo Blasin said in Kupang on Friday.

He said the success team of a certain presidential candidate would possibly determine the election to be in one round or two rounds but the election familiarizations and the campaigns should not be marked by empty promises.