The former president’s son, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, and his running mate Sylviana Murni would have won the Jakarta gubernatorial election if it had been held recently, according to a new survey by Jakarta-based Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI).

The LSI survey showed that a majority of 36.7 percent of Jakartans would have voted for the Agus-Sylvi pair; 32.6 percent for the incumbent Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Syaiful Hidayat and only 21.4 percent for Anies Baswedan and his running mate Sandiaga Uno.

“The study shows that a second round would take place, as none of the two leading pairs, Agus-Sylvi and Ahok-Djarot, would manage to gather 50 percent of the votes,” LSI researcher Ardian Sopa told reporters on Tuesday, adding that it was clear that the Anies-Sandiaga pair would be eliminated in the first round.

Ardian said that the Agus-Sylvi pairing would still lead with 48.1 percent of votes, ahead of the Ahok-Djarot with 29.7 percent, if a second round of voting took place, adding that the current anti-Ahok sentiment, driven by religion, was one of the crucial factors of support for candidate duo Number 1.

LSI conducted the survey from Jan. 5-11, asking 880 respondents representing around 7 million eligible voters in Jakarta in face-to-face interviews. (dan)

MORE:   http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/01/17/anti-ahok-sentiment-helps-ex-presidents-son-take-the-lead-survey.html