Tulungagung, Jatim (ANTARA) - Indonesian Vice Presidential candidate Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno said his loyalists would work hard to catch up with the Joko Widodo-Ma'ruf Amin pair's electability, which several pollsters claim is higher than that of the Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno pair.

Speaking at a mass gathering at Pema field in Tulungagung District, East Java Province, on Monday (March 18), Uno said he was optimistic that his camp would be able to increase its electability within a month prior to the convening of the presidential race on April 17.

"We are working hard to win the upcoming presidential elections," Uno, widely known as a successful businessman-turned politician and former deputy Jakarta governor, said.

The SMR pollster that conducted its survey from January 24 to 31 with 1,620 respondents revealed that the Joko Widodo (Jokowi)-Ma'ruf Amin pair gained 54.9 percent of votes, while the Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno pair obtained 32.1 percent of votes.

With a confidence level of up to 92 percent, the SMR pollster recorded that 13.0 percent of respondents participating in the survey were undecided voters.

The Prabowo-Sandi pair's electability, which remains behind that of the Jokowi-Ma'ruf pair, was also demonstrated by the results of PolMark Indonesia's latest survey.

According to PolMark Indonesia, which conducted its survey from October 2018 to February 2019 by involving 440 respondents in each of the 72 electoral districts, the Jokowi-Ma'ruf pair grabbed 40.4 percent of votes, while the Prabowo-Sandi pair got 25.8 percent.

The total number of undecided voters in the PolMark Indonesia survey was recorded at 33.8 percent of voters.

Asked about the outcome of these surveys, Sandiaga Uno said in the last 30 days prior to the presidential elections, his camp would step up the momentum on its electability by intensifying talks about economic issues.

During his mass gathering with his supporters in Batam, the capital city of Riau Islands Province on March 13, 2019, Presidential candidate Number 2 Prabowo Subianto had also encouraged his loyalists to continue to work hard ahead of election day.

Subianto then urged his loyalists to convince their family members, neighbors, colleagues, and the people at large, whom they come across, to elect the Subianto-Uno pair.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) has predicted that the upcoming elections would see the participation of around 192 million eligible voters.

EDITED BY INE

Translator: Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2019