REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Money politics has been rife in the general elections in Indonesia this year compared to the elections in 2004 and 2009, according to survey institutes.

Based on their survey results, the International Foundation for Electoral System (IFES) in cooperation with the Lembaga Survey Indonesia reported that money politics was more rife in the legislative elections on April 9 this year.

"34 percent of respondents view money politics is rife in 2014 than in 2009, and only 10 percent believe it to be lesser than before," IFES research director Rakesh Sharma said when presenting the results of its survey here on Wednesday.

He noted that, meanwhile, 26 percent believed that the situation this year was equally the same as in 2009 and only 30 percent said they had no idea.

"When asked about their involvement in money politics, respondents often denied. A total of 15 percent said they had been offered money in exchange for their votes, and five percent said they knew the persons who had offered money for their votes," Rakesh pointed out.

He explained that 29 percent of respondents said many legislative candidates did not dole out money but had helped financial development of various facilities or public activities ahead of the general elections on April 9.

"With regard to the case, 44 percent reported they will rather choose those who had financed public facilities," Rakesh added.

The survey done after the legislative elections on April 9 was carried out on June 1-10, involving 2009 respondents spread across 33 provinces in the country.

Sample respondents from several regions, namely Aceh, North Sumatra, Central Java, Maluku, Papua, and West Papua, have been added to the survey.

Data from the report have been weighted to represent the opinion of the Indonesians. The margin of error of the survey is 2.3 percent.

Indonesia has planned to organize a presidential election on July 9. In the election, Jakarta governor Joko Widodo and his running mate former vice-president Jusuf Kalla will compete against former military figure Prabowo Subianto who pairs with former economic minister Hatta Rajasa.

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