Survey: Majority of People Oppose MPR-Chosen President

An Indonesian Political Indicator survey shows that a majority, or 93%, of respondents in Indonesia believe that presidential elections should be conducted directly by the people, as is currently the case. They do not want the president to be elected by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

However, 5.7% of respondents believe the president should be better elected by the MPR. Meanwhile, 1.3% of respondents stated they did not know or did not answer.

The survey also revealed that 84.7% of respondents disagreed with the proposal to have the president elected by the MPR. This breaks down to 34.9% somewhat disagreeing and 49.8% strongly disagreeing.

Meanwhile, 10.9% of respondents agreed with the proposal for the MPR to elect the president. This breaks down to 9.2% agreeing and 1.7% strongly agreeing. 4.4% of respondents stated they did not know or did not answer.

The proposal to have the president elected by the MPR previously emerged alongside discussions about amending the 1945 Constitution. However, this proposal has caused controversy among the public.

Rejection stems partly from the belief that the proposal has not been studied by competent parties. Therefore, the government needs to re-evaluate the urgency of this proposal and its impact on society.

Indikator conducted this survey with 1,220 respondents across 34 provinces from September 2-7, 2021. The margin of error in this survey is 2.9% with a 95% confidence level.