PKS leader shoots ahead in Depok polls<\/p>\n
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Residents of Jakarta's fast-growing satellite town of Depok
\nrushed to polling stations on Sunday to cast their votes in the
\nmunicipality's first direct election.<\/p>\n
By 8 p.m. on Sunday, the popular Muslim scholar Nur Mahmudi
\nIsmail, former president of the Justice Party (PK) was leading
\nthe tally with 29,129 or 45 percent of the 66,000 votes counted,
\nfollowed by the incumbent Badrul Kamal with 25,602 or 38 percent
\nof the vote. PK, now the Prosperous Justice Party, enjoys
\npopularity for its image of conservative Islamic party bent on
\ncombating corruption.<\/p>\n
Sunday's election for the mayor of Depok, which is located
\nsouth of Jakarta, proceeded smoothly with no major complaints
\nheard from candidates or voters.<\/p>\n
Most polling stations were well-prepared for the event, with
\nelection committee members ushering in eager voters as early as 7
\na.m.<\/p>\n
\"We have monitored all polling stations and found no
\nsignificant problems. Most voters lined up orderly and there were
\nenough committee members at each polling station to serve the
\nvoters,\" Depok election committee member for information Abdul
\nCholiq told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
A total of 908,890 of Depok's 1.2 million people were eligible
\nto cast their votes at 1,923 polling stations across the
\nmunicipality.<\/p>\n
Choliq, however, said that voter turnout had not been ideal.<\/p>\n
\"Each polling station started counting the ballots at 1 p.m.,
\nand we found in our monitoring that only about 80 percent of
\neligible voters turned up to cast their votes. Probably, they had
\nsomething else to do,\" he said.<\/p>\n
A recent telephone poll revealed that 19.5 percent of Depok
\nresidents in the middle- to higher-income brackets and 13.2
\npercent of residents in the lower-income bracket would not vote
\nin the election.<\/p>\n
Five pairs of candidate contested the June 26 election: Abdul
\nWahab and running mate Ilham Wijaya of the Democratic Party;
\nHarun Heryana and Farkhan AR of the National Mandate Party (PAN);
\nBadrul Kamal and Syihabuddin of the Golkar Party; Yus Ruswandi
\nand Soetadi Dipowongso of the Indonesian Democratic Party of
\nStruggle (PDI-P); and Nur Mahmudi Ismail and Yuyun Wirasaputra.
\nNur Mahmudi is a cofounder of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).<\/p>\n
The provisional election tally showed that Nur Mahmudi, also a
\nformer ministry of forestry, garnered 45 percent of 66,000 votes
\ncounted, followed by Badrul. The other three candidates garnered
\na total of around 11,000 votes.<\/p>\n
The PKS dominated the legislative election in the Depok area
\nin 2004, winning 24.49 percent of the vote of 722,225.<\/p>\n
Whoever wins Sunday's election, however, has a daunting task
\nahead. Voters have expressed high hopes that the direct election
\nwill produce a mayor who can ease chronic traffic congestion,
\nimprove town planning and reduce the gap between high and low
\nearners in Depok.<\/p>\n
\"Hopefully the 'cleanest' and most capable pair will win. I
\nwant them to make Depok free from traffic jams. I am sick of
\nbeing on the road for hours. Depok traffic is even worse than
\nJakarta's,\" Rani, 27, a resident of Depok Lama subdistrict in
\nPancoran Mas district, told the Post after casting his vote.<\/p>\n
Around a third of Depok residents work in Jakarta and have to
\ntravel on Jl. Margonda Raya, a road notorious for its traffic
\njams due to the several big malls and housing complexes
\npositioned on it, with more malls under construction.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/pks-leader-shoots-ahead-in-depok-polls-1447893297",
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