PKS candidates strengthen lead in Depok poll

PKS candidates strengthen lead in Depok poll

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Muslim scholar Nur Mahmudi Ismail of the Prosperous Justice Party
(PKS) maintained his lead over Badrul Kamal of the Golkar Party
on Wednesday as election officials concluded vote counting in
four districts in Depok, West Java.

Depok General Elections Commission (KPUD) head Zulfadli said
that after counting votes from Beji, Limo, Sawangan and
Cimanggis, former Minister of Forestry Nur Mahmudi had garnered
105,050 or 45 percent of around 237,000 ballots counted, while
former mayor Badrul had gained 101,277 votes or 42 percent of the
total.

Three other candidates shared the remaining 13 percent.

Around 909,000 of Depok's 1.2 million population were eligible
to vote at 1,923 polling stations across the municipality on June
26, but according to Zulfadli, only around 60 percent of
registered voters actually cast their votes.

"We have finished counting and validating results from Sawang
and Cimanggis districts. We hope we can finish counting votes
from two other districts in the next two or three days," Zulfadli
told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday evening.

Ballots from two districts -- Sukmajaya and Pancoran Mas --
are expected to be counted and validated on Thursday.

Beji, Limo, Sawangan and Cimanggis, which have fewer than
100,000 registered voters, are considered medium-sized districts
compared to Sukmajaya and Pancoran Mas districts, which have
around 200,000 eligible voters each.

Zulfadli said that the sooner the KPUD finished the vote
counting the better it would be for the public as they would know
who won the June 26 poll, the first direct elections for mayor in
the municipality.

PKS dominated the legislative elections in Depok in 2004,
winning 24.49 percent of total 722,225 votes.

Zulfadli said looking at districts that had submitted their
results only around 60 percent of total registered voters had
cast their ballots.

He said the situation was calm on Thursday after supporters of
certain candidates held rallies on Tuesday at the KPUD and asked
for a recount and even a rerun.

"We can now proceed with the counting process peacefully," he
said.

Over 100 supporters of Badrul rallied in front of Depok KPUD
on Tuesday morning to protest against the counting process that
they claimed was marred by cheating. The protesters came from
various groups, including the National Movement on Succession,
Depok Coalition for Justice and Depok Youth Organization.

Later in the day, supporters of Badrul and Nur Mahmudi almost
came to blows in front of three district KPUD offices which were
counting the votes.

The tension prompted security officers to deploy police
personnel in the districts to separate them.

Five pairs of candidates participated in the Depok elections,
namely Abdul Wahab and Ilham Wijaya of the Democratic Party,
Harun Heryana and Farkhan AR of the National Mandate Party (PAN),
Badrul Kamal and Syihabuddin of the Golkar Party, Yus Ruswandi
and Soetadi Dipowongso of the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI-P) and Nur Mahmudi and Yuyun Wirasaputra of PKS.