Direct elections peaceful in Java

Direct elections peaceful in Java

Suherdjoko and A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Pekalongan/Jakarta

After successful direct elections in Kutai Kartanegara regency
last week, direct regional elections were held on Sunday in
Pekalongan and Cilegon municipalities and Kebumen regency.

Like the landmark Kutai Kartanegara elections, the direct
elections in the municipalities and regency on Java island
proceeded peacefully, leading to optimism for similar success in
the series of elections that will take place in 200 regencies and
mayoralties nationwide this year.

In Pekalongan, Central Java, enthusiast voters began lining up
at polling stations across the municipality at 8 a.m. Voters
continued to trickle into the polling stations until they closed
at 2 p.m.

The mayoral election was a colorful affair, with poll
committees at the different polling stations doing what they
could to make the vote a true event that residents could enjoy.
The committee at the polling station in Tegal Rejo subdistrict
wore traditional Javanese clothing, to the delight of residents
and guests.

The police and military maintained a larger than usual
presence in the city during the voting, with each polling station
guarded by at least one security personnel.

Security was so tight because of fears of possible violence in
Pekalongan, which has been a flash point for political unrest in
recent years. In 1999 legislative elections in the city were
marred by a clash between supporters of the National Awakening
Party (PKB) and the United Development Party (PPP), injuring
dozens of people.

However, there were no signs of trouble during the vote on
Sunday.

According to a provisional tall on Sunday afternoon, the pair
of Basyir Achmad and Abu Almafachir, nominated by the Golkar
Party, were in the lead with 51.25 percent of the votes that had
been counted.

Of the three other pairs of candidates, the nearest were Timur
Susilo and Urip Sunarjo with 26.31 percent of the votes.

Despite the seemingly convincing lead of the Golkar
candidates, the election still cannot be called because only
3,000 votes from a total of 190,030 eligible voters had been
counted as of Sunday afternoon.

In Kebumen regency, also in Central Java, Antara news agency
reported the pair of Rustriningsih, who is seeking reelection,
and Muhammad Nashirudin Al Mansyur had a convincing 79 percent of
votes counted in 10 of 26 districts in the regency.

The pair, nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI-P), was well ahead of the three other pairs of
candidates. The nearest candidates were Ananto Tri Sasongko and
Suprapto, nominated by the Golkar Party, who had some 10 percent
of the vote in the provisional tally. There are 864,000 eligible
voters in the regency.

Suroto, the acting regent of Kebumen, said on Sunday there had
been no reports of poll fraud.

The only hint of trouble on Sunday occurred during the
elections in Cilegon municipality, Banten, where allegations of
poll fraud were raised. At polling station 18 in Rawa Arum
subdistrict, the poll committee discarded 211 voter cards because
the names on the cards were unknown to the committee.

At polling station 24 in Jombang Wetan subdistrict, police
officers arrested two people distributing coupons for free ice
cream and meatball soup to voters.

Poll witnesses expressed outrage over the coupon giveaway and
the situation threatened to get out of hand, but police officers
moved in and took the two men away for questioning. The men, who
were poll committee members, said they were simply handing out
coupons to get more people to vote.