East Java's first direct election kicks off in Banyuwangi

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Banyuwangi

Kasiyan stopped his bicycle right next to a voting booth in Sringging village, in the East Java town of Banyuwangi. In a rush, the 69-year-old entered the 42-square-meter tent.

"Am I late?" he asked in a thick Maduranese accent to a guard. "No you're not, go ahead," the guard replied back.

The man then entered the booth situated in the center of a coconut grove and submitted his registration form to an official.

"I want to ask something, my wife is paralyzed and can't come here. Can I represent her?" he asked innocently.

"Sorry sir, no," the official told him. Nodding his head, Kasiyan went to the voting booth.

On Monday, Kasiyan was one of the eager voters showing up to vote in Banyuwangi's regental election -- the first direct elections of regional heads in East Java. Four other regencies, Situbondo, Ngawi, Ponorogo and Sumenep, also started the elections for their regional heads on Monday.

In Banyuwangi, five teams of candidates are contesting the regental election. They are Achmad Wahyudi-Eko Sukardono (National Awakening Party, PKB); Achmad Masduki Soe'oed-Syafi'i (Democratic Party); Soesanto Soewandi-Abdul Kadir (Golkar Party); Ratna Ani Lestari-Yusuf Nuris (coalition of 18 political parties); and Ali Sa'roni-Yusuf Widiatmoko (Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, PDIP).

In Situbondo, three teams of candidates -- Soedirdjo-Amam Suradji (PDIP-Golkar Party), Ismunarso-Suroso (United Development Party, PPP); and Akik Zaman-Edi Kusnaedi Hamdun (PKB) -- are contesting the regental election.

In Ponorogo, the regental election sees competition between two teams of candidates: Supriyanto-Handoko Sudirsman (PDIP); and Supadjar-Muryanto (a coalition of 18 parties).

Five teams of candidates -- Abuya Busro Karim-Mochammad Ramli (PKB); M. Afif Hasan-Malik Effendi (National Mandate Party, PDIP); M. Ramdlan Siraj-Mochammad Dahlan (PPP); Abdul Muiz Aliwafa-Siti Aisyah (coalition of 18 political parties); and Abdul Madjid Tawil-Abdul Wakir Abdullah (Golkar Party) -- are contesting the election in Sumenep. In Ngawi, two teams, Budijono-Sudariono (PKB) and Harsono-Budi Sulistyono (PDIP-Golkar Party), are contesting.

Among the five regencies, Banyuwangi is getting the most attention with its 1.2 million voters. There were fears that the election there would be disrupted by supporters of Samsul Hadi- Gatot Siradjuddin of PKB, who were prevented from participating in the election.

A day before the election, on Sunday, there was reportedly a mix-up in the list of voters in the regency due to limited preparation time. Some fake registration forms were reportedly also found in Licin district.

"The (mix up of the) list of voters might become a (serious) problem in the Banyuwangi election, but hopefully not," Hari Prayitno, a member of Banyuwanti Election Committee, told The Jakarta Post.

In general, the Banyuwangi election proceeded with no significant problems recorded in 2,499 voting booths across the regency's 24 districts.

However, Banyuwangi regent Samsul Hadi, who did not run in the election, decided not to vote, putting his blank voting paper directly into the box at the Temengunggan voting booth. "I did this for justice. If I voted, there would be jealousy," he said without explaining further.

East Java Governor Imam Utomo, who inspected the voting process in Karang Rejo and Taman Baru subdistricts, guaranteed that the election would be conflict-free.

As of 4 p.m. on Monday, the team of Ratna Ani Lestari-Yusuf Nuris obtained 90,124 votes from 21 districts. They were followed by Soesanto Soewandi-Abdul Kadir with 41,850 votes, and Achmad Wahyudi-Eko Sukardono, who were earlier predicted to win the election, in third place with 34,832 votes.