Swing voters would be determining

JAKARTA. Today, Jakarta holds gubernatorial election. The swing voters and the silent majority would determine the results of the election, which is predicted to run under a tight competition.

Political observer at Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) Siti Zuhro said, the recent political maneuvers imply that Jakarta gubernatorial election is unlikely to run in only one round. “Except there is a force majeure event that will bring significant impact. For an example, the candidacy of a pair of candidates will be canceled if they are found to launch money politics,” she told KONTAN, Tuesday (14/2).

Furthermore, results of the recent surveys show no dominant pair of candidates. Director of Charta Politica Yunarto Wijata said, according to the statistic, Jakarta gubernatorial election will be continuing to the second round. The results of research show that there is no pair of candidates that could reach a more than 50% of votes.

However, the psychologist at University of Indonesia Hamdi Muluk said, the silent majority are likely to be the winner or determining the results of Jakarta gubernatorial election. “Some phenomena show that many voters were anxious or afraid of openly declaring their choice,” he said.

At a certain level, this condition may reflect that the silent majority would be determining. In this case, the choices of the swing voters and the silent majority may boost supports for a pair of candidate. Let alone, the voter turnouts in Jakarta in the previous presidential election and gubernatorial elections were moderate.

According to the data of Election Commission (KPU), the voter turnout in 2007 Jakarta gubernatorial election was only 63.3%, while the voter turnout in the first round and second round of 2012 Jakarta gubernatorial election were only 53.4% and 66.7%, respectively. (Muhammad Farid/Translator)