Bambang leading in Surabaya poll<\/p>\n
Indra Harsaputra and ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya<\/p>\n
Just hours after the city mayoral election was over, incumbent
\nBambang Dwi Hartono had a commanding lead in the provisional vote
\nwith 50.6 percent, from 1,027 polling stations, about one-fifth
\nof the total in Surabaya.<\/p>\n
Bambang, who has partnered up with media mogul Arif Afandi, is
\nlikely to maintain his lead in more than other 3,800 polling
\nstations across the second largest city in the country still to
\nbe tallied. Bambang was nominated by the Indonesian Democratic
\nParty of Struggle (PDI-P).<\/p>\n
Surabaya was relatively quiet on Monday when more than 1.9
\nmillion voters were expected to cast their votes in the first
\never direct election for mayor, but by mid-day observers were
\nconvinced that the number of voters who decided not to cast their
\nvotes would be quite high.<\/p>\n
\"I predict the number of those who did not use their right to
\nvote will increase way above those of last year's election,\" Eko
\nWaluyo, a staff member of the General Elections Committee (KPU),
\ntold The Jakarta Post. He was referring to last year's
\npresidential election where the number of those who chose not to
\ncast their votes in the city was 28 percent.<\/p>\n
Some of the total of 4,872 polling stations devised different
\nmethods to lure voters to come. In polling station number 10 in
\nMenanggal, southern Surabaya, election staffers provided the
\nfamous East Java Soto Madura soup for each voter who came.<\/p>\n
In another polling station in Kebonsari, also in southern
\nSurabaya, election staffers donned soccer player outfits to
\nenliven the election. The polls closed at 1 p.m. across the city.<\/p>\n
\"I wanted people to feel relaxed about casting their votes,\"
\nYuwono, an poll staffer told the Post.<\/p>\n
Monday was declared a public holiday. Only banks were allowed
\nto open. Turnout in a number of polling stations visited by the
\nPost was only about 50 percent. Traffic in the city has been less
\nthan heavy even in the normally congested areas.<\/p>\n
Reeling behind the incumbent was Alisjahbana who had just 20.8
\npercent from the 1,027 polling stations with his partner Wahyudin
\nHusein who were nominated by the National Awakening Party (PKB).<\/p>\n
In short, the fight for the position has come down to the two
\narch-rivals in the city: PDI-P and PKB, both traditionally strong
\nin East Java. If early returns remain consistent, PDI-P's
\ncandidate will beat PKB's candidate by a convincing margin.<\/p>\n
Late on Monday, the two other candidate teams were trailing
\nbehind the leader -- Erlangga Satriagung-A.H. Thony (18.9
\npercent) and Gatot Sudjito-Benyamin Hilly (9.6 percent). Low
\nvoter turnout also occurred in the prisons in Surabaya.<\/p>\n
Only 86 voters cast their votes at Medaeng prison house out of
\n949 detainees. The KPU decided that only 264 detainees were
\neligible to vote, but most of them either did not receive their
\nvoting cards on time or had their cards taken away by their
\nrelatives.<\/p>\n
\"The number of voters declined by 70 percent compared to the
\npresidential elections in October,\" Marlik Subiyanto, an employee
\nat Medaeng Prison, told the Post.<\/p>\n
Marlik cited stricter regulations and the lack of support on
\nthe part of the KPU in this election as the key reasons behind
\nthe decline.<\/p>\n
At the police detention facility, 20 detainees were unable to
\ncast their votes because they did not have voting cards for
\nsimilar reasons.<\/p>\n
KPU staffer, Eko Sasmito, dismissed the lack of communication
\nas the reason for the voters to lose their rights.<\/p>\n
\"The election itself was conducted in a hurried fashion,\" he
\nexplained.<\/p>",
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