Major party nominees sweep elections for local leaders
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The strongest political parties flexed their muscles in the direct elections of regional heads across the country, with their nominees becoming democratically elected leaders in the landmark elections.
In Central Java, out of the 11 newly elected leaders in the mayoral and regental elections, which started on June 5, seven of them were won by incumbents -- of which five gained support from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). Three other incumbents lost.
The five are Kebumen Regent Rustriningsih, Kendal Regent Hendy Boedoro, Sukoharjo Regent Bambang Riyanto, Magelang Mayor Fahriyanto and Purbalingga Regent Triyono Budi Sasongko.
Two others -- Blora regent Basuki Widodo from the Golkar Party and Semarang Mayor Sukawi Sutarip, who is now supported by the National Mandate Party (PAN), the United Development Party (PPP), National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) -- formerly was with PDI-P.
According to political observer Nur Hidayat Sardini of the Semarang-based University of Diponegoro, the regents and mayors won the elections because they had been "campaigning" for five years during their terms in office, something that newcomers could not compete against.
"They (the incumbents) became well-known. No matter what parties they came from, people didn't care. Just like Sukawi Sutarip in Semarang. He used to be supported by PDI-P and he's a PDI-P member. When PDI-P refused to support him, the party's people in the villages still supported him," Nur Hidayat said.
However, the incumbents, whose policies were not popular among their people, would not garner the votes and lost in the elections, he said.
"People are smart now. They can be given money, but at the voting time, they will vote for the one they favor. Money can't buy them," Nur Hidayat said.
In West Sumatra, the pair of Gamawan Fauzi-Marlis Rahman looks likely to become the province's governor and deputy governor for the 2005-2010 term after winning 46.71 percent of the provisionally counted votes on Tuesday.
Head of the West Sumatra Election Committee, Muftie Syarfie, predicted that the pair would win, although only 50 percent of the overall 2.9 million votes had been tallied. He estimated that from the registered 2.9 million voters, only 70 percent cast their vote.
The pair, which was nominated by PDI-P and the Crescent Star Party (PBB), received the most votes in 12 of the province's 19 regencies and municipalities.
In Solok regency where Gamawan, the recipient of the Bung Hatta Anti Corruption Award 2005, served as a regent and Solok mayor, won 79.6 percent and 74.5 percent of votes, respectively in those areas.
In Bandarlampung, PKS's candidates Abdul Hakim-Zainal Iskandar was still leading the count with 22.93 percent as of 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
They were closely followed by Eddy Sutrisno-Kherlani (PDI-P) with 22.35 percent; and Sjachrazad Z.P.-Rudy Syawal (Golkar) with 20,99 percent.
With such a close result, the election might be repeated, with Bandarlampung Election Committee member Nizwar Affandi saying it might take 21 days to prepare for the second round election.
"We plan to hold plenary meetings to determine the result on Wednesday and on the second round election preparation the next day," Nizwar said.
In Surabaya, counting at the Surabaya Election Committee showed that 50 percent, or around a million of 1.9 registered voters, did not cast their votes in the city's mayoral election on Monday. Just hours after the election, the incumbent Bambang Dwi Hartono had a commanding lead in the provisional vote.
Communication observer from Media Consumers Foundation, Henry Subiyakto, blamed the lack of familiarization of the elections for people's reluctance to vote.
"The election committee only informed people of the time to vote, not telling people how the election would benefit them," Henry said.