Jokowi stays top of mind as his main rival tops popularity poll

Jakarta

INDONESIAN President Joko Widodo's main rival in the country's last 2 elections is now leading in popularity, even as the incumbent remains top of mind of voters.

Given the choice between the 3 most popular names to become the next president, 32.7 per cent of people polled recently would choose Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, followed closely by Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo (30.8 per cent) and Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan (24.9 per cent). This is according to a survey by Indikator conducted between Feb 11 and Feb 21.

Jokowi, as the president is commonly known as, remains top of mind, with 15.9 per cent of respondents naming him when asked an open question of who they would vote for.

That's followed by Subianto with 12.3 per cent and Pranowo with 10.5 per cent.

Indonesians are only set to head to the polls in February 2024, but elections have already become a key political issue amid speculation around whether Widodo would seek to serve a third term as well as early campaigning by various candidates.

The president has said he would obey the constitution, which currently sets a limit of 2 terms.

Subianto, chairman of the third-biggest party in parliament, lost to Widodo in the 2014 and 2019 elections.

Indonesians want their next leader to focus on creating jobs, managing food inflation, handling the Covid-19 pandemic, corruption eradication and improving the quality of education.

Indikator's survey involved 1,200 respondents across the country, with a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points. BLOOMBERG