JAKARTA: Indonesian presidential hopeful Ganjar Pranowo led an opinion poll on Monday for the first time since election season formally got underway last month, nudging ahead of close rival and defence minister Prabowo Subianto.
The Oct 26-31 survey by Charta Politika showed 36.8 percent of the 2,400 respondents backed the ruling party’s Ganjar while 34.7 percent supported Prabowo, with 24.3 percent in favour of Anies Baswedan, Jakarta’s former governor.
Prabowo, who is making a third run at the presidency, has held a slim lead over former Central Java governor Ganjar in most polls in the past few months, with the two neck-and-neck for much of the year. Charta Politika’s surveys since 2021 have mostly put Ganjar in the lead.
The poll also showed some dissatisfaction about outgoing leader Joko Widodo’s role in the presidential race, in particular a perception of his involvement in a controversial court ruling on eligibility requirements that allowed his son to become Prabowo’s running mate.
Jokowi, as the president is popularly known, has declined to comment on last month’s decision of the Constitutional Court, of which his brother-in-law is chief justice.
Nearly 40 percent of those surveyed said they believed Jokowi had influenced the court’s decision, while 23.3 percent did not agree and 37 percent did not answer or said they did not know.
