Muslim voters cannot be associated

with certain parties

Sabtu 23 Feb 2019 11:53 WIB

Rep: Nawir Arsyad, Idealisa Masyrafina/ Red: Reiny Dwinanda

Director of Public Opinion & Policy Research (Populi Center) Usep S. Ahyar

Based on LSI Denny JA latest survey, PDIP was superior among Muslim
voters.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Director of Public Opinion & Policy Research -

Populi Center Usep S. Ahyar said that voters could not be associated with certain
political parties merely based on their religions. He stated that to respond the latest
survey of the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) Denny JA which said PDIP was
superior among Muslim voters.

"Actually, I don't think it can (be associated) based on religion, because this party
does not have a differentiator in a very extreme religious context," he said when
contacted by Republika.co.id on Thursday (Feb 21).

According to him, parties in Indonesia actually did not have a significant difference in
terms of reaping votes from various types of voters. He said that a number of parties
also accommodated voters outiside their bases.

"For example, PDIP as the nationalist also established Baitul Muslimin, while PKS as
the party established based on religion also accommodate non-Muslim voters in
eastern regions," Usep said.

Usep explained, Muslim voters in Indonesia could not be associated with specific
political parties, because the scope was too broad. However, voters from certain
Islamic organizations can be associated with certain political parties.

"For example, Muhammadiyah, FPI, and KAHMI have their own tendency in
choosing political parties," Usep said.

Even so, Usep said, religion-based parties still have the potential to gain quite a lot of
votes. Because, the majority of religious-based parties have support bases and also
targeted other groups of voters.

"The point is that they are approaching all sides, there are nationalists who are still
religious. Some are religious, but they are also nationalists," Usep said.
Previously, the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) Denny JA said PDIP electability
among Muslim voters was still superior. The party received a vote of 18.4 percent.
Gerindra Party was in second place, with 16.6 percent.

Whereas religious-based parties such as PKB ranked fourth (9.3 percent) followed by
PKS at seventh (4.6 percent). Meanwhile, PPP was under PKS, with a gain of 4.1
percent. Finally, there was PAN which was ranked 10th, with 1.6 percent.

The survey was conducted from January 18 to 25, 2019 involving 1,200 respondents.
The survey was conducted in 34 provinces in Indonesia with a multistage random
sampling method. Interviews were conducted face-to-face using questionnaires. The
margin of errors for this survey was 2.8 percent.