Kutai regency kicks off landmark elections

Kutai regency kicks off landmark elections

A'an Suryana and Rusman, The Jakarta Post, Kutai Kartanegara

Indonesia's nascent democracy achieved another landmark on
Wednesday as thousands of residents of Kutai Kartanegara regency
in East Kalimantan voted for their local leaders in the country's
first ever regional direct election.

The election proceeded smoothly despite some administrative
hiccups, notably the discovery of double voter cards at some
polling stations, including those in Timbau and Maluhu
subdistricts.

Kutai Kartanegara General Elections Commission chairman Ishack
Iskandar said the irregularities were the result of
administrative errors, including data entry.

He said the double voter cards were caused by poll officials
typing in wrong addresses, dates and places of births, generating
multiple voter cards with the same names but different addresses,
dates or places of birth.

"But we resolved the problem. I instructed the heads of the
polling stations to tear up the incorrect voter cards and make
sure people vote only once," he said.

The double voter cards will not affect the elections, unless
one of the three pairs of candidates bring the matter to court
and successfully demand the election be repeated, said Suroto,
the head of the Kutai Kartanegara Election Supervisory Committee.

"Hopefully, this last scenario will not happen," he said.

Kutai Kartanegara residents from all walks of life
enthusiastically took part in the vote on Wednesday to elect a
new regent and deputy regent.

Eligible voters began lining up at polling stations early in
the morning, before the stations opened at 7 a.m. Voters
continued to trickle into the stations until they closed at 1
p.m.

Although most of the voters took part in last year's direct
presidential election, many believed the vote on Wednesday was
more important because the outcome would directly affect their
lives.

"The vote is crucial to elect leaders who will be able to
bring us prosperity. If we fail to elect a good leader, surely
bad days lie ahead," said Hendra Dwi Wijaksonon as he emerged
from a polling station in Melayu subdistrict, Tenggarong city.

According to a quick count by the Pokja 30 Election Monitoring
Group, Syaukani, who is seeking reelection, and his running mate
Samsuri Aspar look likely to win the election.

The quick count, based on samples taken from 194 polling
stations, has Syaukani and Samsuri Aspar winning 61.20 percent of
the vote, followed by Sofyan Alex and Muhammad Irkham with 32.82
percent, and Tajudin Noor and Abdul Djabar Bukran with 5.98
percent.

Pokja 30 coordinator Kahar Al Bakhri said it planned to take
samples from 200 of the total 1,391 polling stations across the
regency.

Direct elections will be held this year in 214 regencies and
municipalities and 11 provinces nationwide.