Muhtarom-Makmur Pair Most Voted in the Pekalongan City Election Survey

Illustration of the 2024 Simultaneous Pilkada (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Survey Panel (PSI) conducted a survey regarding the level of popularity and electability of two prospective candidate pairs (paslon) in the Pekalongan Mayoral Election (Pilwakot), Central Java, namely the pair Afzan Arslan Djunaid-Balgis Diab and the pair H Muhtarom-Makmur Sofyan Mustofa.

The results showed that the pair H. Muhtarom-Makmur Sofyan Mustopa were the most widely chosen by the public to become Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Pekalongan.

PSI Executive Director, Mahendra Zaeni, revealed that 80.8 percent of respondents in Pekalongan admitted to knowing about the 2024 Mayor Election. Meanwhile, only 19.2 percent did not know.

As many as 87.3 percent of Pekalongan residents stated that they would vote in the 2024 Pilkada, while 8.5 percent would not vote in this election and 4.2 percent said they did not know.

The survey initially measured the level of popularity and acceptability of prospective mayoral and deputy mayoral candidates. The result is that the level of public recognition of the prospective Mayoral Candidate Afzan Arslan Djunaid reached 78.1 percent and had an acceptance of 60.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the prospective Deputy Mayoral Candidate Balgis Diab has a recognition level of up to 60.7 percent and an acceptance level of only 48.9 percent

"Then the name H. Muhtarom is known up to 73.5 percent and has an acceptance level of 68.8 percent, while his partner Makmur Sofyan Mustopa is known up to 65.1 percent with an acceptance level of 63.9 percent," said Mahendra in the survey release, Tuesday, August 6.

PSI then gave an open question to respondents (top of mind) if the Pekalongan regional election was held today, which candidate pair would be chosen. The survey results showed that the pair H. Muhtarom-Makmur Sofyan Mustopa was chosen top of mind by 37.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the Afzan Arslan Djunaid-Balgis Diab pair was chosen top of mind by 30.8 percent and did not give a choice by 31.8 percent of respondents.

"PSI also conducted a head-to-head simulation between Afzan Arslan Djunaid and Balgis Diab with H Muhtarom and Makmur Sofyan Mustofa using closed questions to respondents. The survey results showed that the H Muhtarom-Makmur Sofyan Mustofa pair was chosen by 48.2 percent, then the Afzan Arslan Djunaid and Balgis Diab pair 39.2 percent, while 12.6 percent did not choose," explained Mahendra.

When the results of the head-to-head simulation were deepened by asking the respondents with the most voters regarding the reasons why the community wanted a new leader in Pekalongan City, continued Mahendra, 53.5 percent of respondents doubted that the old leader could handle the tidal flooding that disrupted community activities.

Then, 23.1 percent of respondents doubted that the previous leader could handle the environmental pollution that occurred, 16.5 percent doubted that there would be significant changes in infrastructure, and 6.9 percent for other reasons.

"Pekalongan residents hope that in the Pilkada the elected Mayor & Deputy Mayor will be able to build embankments to overcome this problem. So that economic activities, especially for batik craftsmen, can run smoothly without being hampered by tidal flooding," concluded Mahendra.

This PSI survey was conducted on July 28-August 4, 2024 through face-to-face interviews using a questionnaire. Data collection used a multistage random sampling technique for 1,500 respondents spread across 4 sub-districts and 27 villages with a margin of error of approximately 2.52 percent.