Herry elected Yogya mayor

Herry elected Yogya mayor

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Businessman Herry Zudianto was elected on Wednesday as the new Yogyakarta Municipality mayor, defeating his competitor Endang Dharmawan in a closed-door voting session at the Yogyakarta Legislative Council.

Herry, who was nominated by the National Mandate Party faction in tandem with Syukri Fadholi of the United Islam faction as the deputy mayor candidate, won 21 out of the 36 votes at the second round of voting.

Endang Dharmawan, who was nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction with HM Wahid of the Justice and Democracy Awakening faction for the deputy post, only received 14 votes. One vote was deemed to be invalid.

Herry, a graduate of the Indonesian Islamic University (UII)'s School of Economics, is a well known businessman. He only became a politician ahead of the 1999 general election after joining the National Mandate Party. Herry is the owner of the Margaria Group, which manages Pujayo Restaurant, Margaria Batik and Al-Fath Muslim Fashion stores.

"After this election I will soon quit my business activities to prevent any conflict of interest and to enable me to concentrate on speeding up development programs in the city," Herry said.

Four PDI Perjuangan legislators -- Cindelaras Yulianto, Herimawan, Rahajeng Adanenggar and Turino Junaedi -- boycotted the election due to their disapproval of the party's nomination of Endang Dharmawan. (23)