Local Head Candidates Supported by Minor Parties Lack Appeal to Voters

Regional heads endorsed by political parties appear to be less appealing to most Indonesian voters. This is evident from a report by the Katadata Insight Center (KIC) survey titled *Public Perception of Regional Elections in 8 Provinces* (June 2024).

According to the survey, only 7.7% of respondents chose a regional head because they were endorsed by their preferred party. Furthermore, only 4.7% chose a specific candidate because they were endorsed by the general chairman of their favorite party.

The majority, or 76.6% of respondents, chose regional heads based on the candidates' personal or individual factors.

KIC also found that the majority, or 41.3% of respondents, considered the candidates' performance track record when choosing a regional head. Then, 24.5% considered the vision, mission, and programs; 14.5% considered the candidate's religion; 9.1% considered character; and 6.5% considered competence as the primary consideration.

This KIC survey involved 7,864 respondents spread across 8 provinces: Banten, Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, South Sulawesi, West Sumatra, and North Sumatra.

Respondents were selected with the criteria of being over 17 years old and having a mobile phone number, with a proportion of 60.7% male respondents and 39.3% female respondents.

Most respondents were millennials or in the 28-43 age group (45.6%), followed by the 17-27 age group (39.4%) and the 44-59 age group (13.8%).

Data collection was conducted online from May 3-9, 2024, through tSurvey data collection, using a non-probability sampling method. The margin of error is approximately 1.1% at a 95% confidence level.