Ballot counting finishes with a win for Susilo
Ballot counting finishes with a win for Susilo
Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta
The Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) completed the
ballot counting on Friday with presidential candidate Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono and running mate Jusuf Kalla gaining the
largest number of votes in the capital.
Jakarta is the first province to finish the ballot counting.
Susilo, a candidate of the newly established Democrat Party
(PD), garnered nearly two million votes or 37.84 percent from the
total of 5,198,158 valid votes cast in the capital's five
municipalities and the Thousand Islands regency.
KPUD declared that the number of invalid votes reached 56,911
or 1.08 percent of a total of 5,255,068 votes.
Amien Rais and running mate Siswono Yudohusodo took second
position with 1.42 million votes, followed by Megawati
Soekarnoputri-Hasyim Muzadi with 1.17 million, Wiranto-Solahuddin
Wahid with 499,455, and Hamzah Haz-Agum Gumelar with 121,924.
The commission recorded 6,869,147 eligible voters in the city,
but only 5,255,069 voters voted in the July 5 presidential
election. It means that over 1.61 million people in the city did
not exercise their right to vote.
The final result of the ballot counting was announced at Hotel
Nikko Jakarta on Friday afternoon.
The ceremony was officiated by KPUD chairman Muhamad Taufik
and attended by commission members, representatives of the five
candidates and election watchdogs.
Taufik reminded the supporters of all presidential candidates
to respect the people's choice because all candidates had pledged
to accept victory or defeat.
"I hope that all parties respect the election results so that
the capital will remain secure and peaceful," he said.
He said the election, starting from the campaign period and
the July 5 election, to the ballot counting, had taken place
peacefully, without any significant problems.
He said there was still a chance for campaign managers to
submit complaints to the Constitutional Court if they were
dissatisfied with the ballot counting.
Taufik added the Jakarta Police were still investigating the
alleged provision of 200 teenagers below voting age with fake ID
cards to vote at a polling station in Kwitang subdistrict,
Central Jakarta. The case involved religious leader Habib Fuad
Al-Hafsi and Central Jakarta KPUD member Zainal Abidin.