Survey favors Yudhoyono as next Indonesian president

The latest opinion poll indicated Wednesday that Indonesian presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is ahead of incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri for the head-to-head presidential election.

Organized by the Jakarta-based Soegeng Sarjadi Syndicated (SSS),the poll puts the pair of Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla as the most favorite president-vice president pair with 41.3 percent of the votes while Megawati, who teams up with Muslim cleric Hasyim Muzadi, got 34.68 percent of the votes.

The organizer claimed that the poll was held in 17 of the country's 32 provinces, with 24.02 percent of respondents choosingnot to vote.

But Megawati with a well-established political machine could overturn the poll result for her favor when the actual election isheld on Sept. 20, SSS executive director Sukardi Rinakit told a press conference when releasing the poll result here.

"The existence of a well-established political machine is something that we cannot ignore," he said.

The country's largest party Golkar, whose chairman Akbar Tandjung already pledged support to Megawati, would pose the biggest stumbling block for Yudhoyono's bid, he added.

"The real battle will be between SBY and Akbar Tandjung," Sukardi said, calling Yudhoyono by his initials.

Source: Xinhua