SBY Effects, Anies' Electability Drops After Selecting Cak Imin As A Vice Presidential Candidate

JAKARTA - The founder of the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) Denny JA, Denny Januar Ali, said that the electability of the presidential candidate for the Anies Baswedan Amendment Coalition has decreased after choosing Muhaimin Iskandar as the vice presidential candidate for the 2024 presidential election.

"We read a lot of news today that Anies Baswedan's electability actually declined after he declared the first presidential and vice presidential pairs with Muhaimin Iskandar," Denny said as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, October 3.

The declaration of Anies-Cak Imin or Amin as a pair of candidates for presidential and vice-presidential candidates was carried out in Surabaya, East Java, on Saturday, September 2.

Based on the results of the LSI Denny JA survey in September 2023, the presidential candidate for the supporting company of the Advanced Indonesia Coalition (KIM) Prabowo Subianto is still ahead while at 39.8 percent, followed by a candidate for presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo who won around 37.9 percent.

Then, Anies' electability only ranged at 14.5 percent. According to Denny, support for Anies is still far from Ganjar and Prabowo.

"The difference is more than 20 percent," he added.

Not only that, the comparison of support for Anies Baswedan in September and August also decreased.

"In August, the declaration (Anies) with Muhaimin has not yet been declared. The pair's declaration occurred on September 2, 2023," he explained.

Prior to the Amin Declaration, continued Denny, support for Anies reached 19.7 percent. However, after the declaration, his support actually decreased by 5 percent to 14.5 percent.

Denny assessed that Anies' decrease in electability was caused by the impact of the Chairman of the Upper House of the Democratic Party, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), who chose to withdraw his support for Anies because he chose Muhaimin as his companion.

SBY's criticism of Anies circulated quite massively and had an impact on the decline in the electability of the former governor of DKI Jakarta. SBY questioned if when choosing a potential companion Anies was not a mandate, then how will it be when he is elected as the leader of Indonesia.

"It was anger that came from the heart by the president for two terms, who had been a star in his time, by winning the one-round presidential election, with the highest support in the history of the direct presidential election," explained Denny.

Meanwhile, continued Denny, the electability of prospective presidential candidates can be seen from the three foundations. The first is the track record of its performance in the past. The second is various main programs that will be given to the people. The third is personality.

"If the personality that is attacked as it is today, Anies is considered not a mandate, especially when it comes to influential figures, it is broadcast very massively as well; then it has a big effect," he added.

However, according to Denny, Anies still has the potential to become a dark horse to follow in the last corner. This also happened in the 2017 DKI Jakarta Pilkada where Anies actually won.

"He (Anies) still has the potential to become a dark horse this time, but of course the battlefield is more difficult. Indonesia, from Aceh to Papua, is much wider and more complex than DKI Jakarta. At the same time, this is a warning for Prabowo and Ganjar so that they do not make blunders. This is so that their position is no longer overtaken," said Denny.