Nur Mahmudi named Depok mayor
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Amid protests both from the camps of defeated Depok mayoral candidates and the Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwas), the Depok General Elections Commission (KPU Depok) declared on Tuesday Nur Mahmudi Ismail and running mate Yuyun Wirasaputra as winners of the local elections.
The representatives of former mayor Badrul Kamal, who gained the second highest number of votes, refused to sign the result of the final count, accusing the poll commission of ignoring public reports of alleged violations committed by Nur Mahmudi's supporters.
Badrul's representatives Babai Suhaemi and Zainul -- who is chairman of Depok's Golkar Youth for Reform (AMPG), attempted to foil the event by interrupting the final count three times.
In the last interruption, Zainul claimed that he received an envelop from a man in a civil servant's uniform as he walked into the building. He assumed that the man was sent by Yuyun, who is a high-ranking official in the Indonesian Civil Servants Corps (Korpri).
As KPU Depok refused to open the envelop, Zainul ripped it open and took the Rp 500,000 (US$51.5) bills he said was given to make the supporters abort their protests.
Also refusing to sign the final result, the representatives of candidate Abdul Wahab Abidin pointed to errors in the vote counting. Abdul and running mate Ilham Wijaya, supported by the Democratic Party, came fourth in the election.
Fearing anarchic protests, the venue was moved at the last minute to the scout camp Wiladatika in Cibubur, 20 kilometers from KPU Depok's small office on Jl. Raya Sawangan.
The area was guarded by hundreds of police officers.
All representatives of the five candidates and Depok authorities were present in the final count, except for Panwas members who met Depok Legislative Council Commission A for administration affairs.
Panwas asked the councillors to intervene and delay the final count until all complaints over the election were investigated.
In the middle of the final count, a letter signed by the commission chairman Triyono arrived, asking the poll commission to delay the announcement. The letter also stated that commission members from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which supported Nur Mahmudi, did not attend the meeting with Panwas.
"We have invited Panwas members, but their attendance in the final count is not mandatory in accordance with the law," poll commission member Udi Muslih addressed the event.
Nur Mahmudi garnered 232,610 votes, or 43.9 percent of valid votes, while Badrul got 206,781 votes or 39.03 percent. In third place were running mates Yus Ruswandi and Soetadi Dipowongso who garnered 34,096 votes, while Abdul got 32,461. Harun Heryana and Farkhan Abdul Razak, who were nominated by the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Star Crescent Party (PBB), the Star Reform Party (PBR) and the Concern for the Nation Functional Party (PKPB), came last with 23,859 votes.
The poll commission found 20,141 invalid votes out of the total of 529,807 votes.
KPU Depok will hear complaints over the elections from July 7 to July 9, while the dispute resolution period is from July 10 to July 23.
The election result will be assessed by the council from July 10 to July 24 and the West Java governor is expected to endorse the election result on July 27. The inauguration of the Depok mayor will take place on July 28 or July 29.