Local elections peaceful despite threats, delays<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Poll cancellations, protests and rumors of clashes disrupted the
\nlandmark direct local leadership elections in some of the
\ncountry's regencies and municipalities on Monday.<\/p>\n
In North Sumatra, the election in Sibolga municipality had to
\nbe postponed to allow the completion of voter registration. The
\nprovince had earlier been scheduled to hold elections in 13
\nregencies and municipalities, including Medan city.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the election in Binjai city also appeared set to be
\nput on hold following protests by some unregistered voters on
\nSunday. On Monday morning, however, the Binjai Election Committee
\ndecided to go ahead with the election despite a boycott by three
\nof the four tickets contesting the poll.<\/p>\n
Low voter turnout was recorded during the Medan mayoral
\nelection. At Polling Station No. 25 in Tanjung Gusta, Helvetia
\ndistrict, only 80 out of 158 registered voters bothered to cast
\ntheir votes.<\/p>\n
"Compared to the previous legislative and presidential
\nelections, people's interest in this election is very low. I
\ndon't know why," said Syamsuri Usman, head of the polling station
\ncommittee.<\/p>\n
In the Central Java town of Surakarta, the city was deserted
\nas many businesses remained closed for election day.<\/p>\n
Even busy Coyudan street, famed for its gold and jewelry
\nstores, and the popular Klewer market were closed following
\nrumors there would be clashes between supporters of the rival
\ncandidates standing for mayor and deputy mayor.<\/p>\n
As of 7 p.m. on Monday, however, the city was still peaceful,
\nwith the Joko Widodo-Rudy Hadiyatmo ticket (nominated by the
\nIndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle\/PDIP) leading the field
\nwith 19,911 votes (40.79 percent).<\/p>\n
They were followed by the Hardono-Dipokusumo ticket (nominated
\nby the Golkar Party) with 13,290 votes; the Achmad Purnomo-Istar
\nYuliadi ticket (National Mandate Party\/PAN) with 13,255 votes;
\nand Slamet Suryanto-Henky Nartosabdo, nominated by a coalition of
\nsmall parties, with 2,356 votes.<\/p>\n
In South Sulawesi, elections proceeded smoothly in 10
\nregencies on Monday, although protests were staged in several
\nregencies by voters who lacked registration cards or were not on
\nthe official voter lists.<\/p>\n
In Gowa regency, the local election committee had to set up
\nspecial voting booths in 16 districts to accommodate some 3,500
\nunlisted voters. It also had to photocopy ballot papers as there
\nwere not enough original papers for all 377,031 registered
\nvoters.<\/p>\n
Protests erupted at a polling station in Soppeng when it
\nturned out that many of the voters were actually children.<\/p>\n
In the Bandarlampung mayoral election, a quick count conducted
\nby the Lampung Rectors Forum produced a surprise with the Eddy
\nSutrisno-Kherlani ticket (PDIP) leading the field on 23.87
\npercent of the votes.<\/p>\n
They were closely followed by two other tickets -- Abdul
\nHakim-Zainal Iskandar (Prosperous Justice Party\/PKS) with 22.59
\npercent, and Sjachrazad Z.P.-Rudy Syawal (Golkar Party) with
\n21.53 percent. A total of six tickets were contesting the
\nelection.<\/p>\n
In West Sumatra, where polls were held in 10 regencies and
\nmunicipalities on Monday, hundreds of voters in Pasaman regency
\nfound that their names had been omitted from the register.<\/p>\n
As predicted, the Zulkifli Nurdin-Anthony Zedra Abidin ticket
\nappeared set to win in the Jambi gubernatorial election. Zulkifli
\nwas Jambi governor from 1999 to 2004.<\/p>\n
As of noon on Monday, the Jambi Provincial Election Committee
\nsaid the pair had garnered 370,117 votes out of the 464,578 votes
\ncast. The electorate in Jambi numbered some 1.8 million people.<\/p>\n
In Yogyakarta, the incumbent regent of Sleman, Ibnu Subiyanto,
\nand former Bantul regent Idham Samawi appeared likely to win the
\nelections in their respective regencies.<\/p>\n
Early returns showed that Ibnu Subiyanto of the Indonesian
\nDemocratic Party of Struggle had taken 195,646 votes, or 39.48
\npercent of the total of 495,599 valid votes counted by the Sleman
\nElection Committee. Meanwhile, Idham Samawi, also of the PDIP,
\nhad taken 347,310 votes, or 73.07 percent of the total of 475,308
\nvalid votes.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/local-elections-peaceful-despite-threats-delays-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}