Ismeth wins in Riau election

BATAM, Riau Islands: Riau Islands Elections Committee has officially finished vote counting and named Ismeth Abdullah as the candidate gaining most of the votes in the election for the province's governor.

"If we looked at people's participation in the election on June 30, it was very low. But this will not affect the final result of the election. Besides, voting is one's rights; it's up to the people whether they want to exercise it or not," said Dean Tealta, the committee chairperson.

The committee would officially announce the result three days after the completion of vote counting on Thursday night.

"If there's no claims of violations from other candidates, then the ones gaining most votes will be declared as the election's winners," Dean said. -- JP