PKS leader shoots ahead in Depok polls

PKS leader shoots ahead in Depok polls

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Residents of Jakarta's fast-growing satellite town of Depok
rushed to polling stations on Sunday to cast their votes in the
municipality's first direct election.

By 8 p.m. on Sunday, the popular Muslim scholar Nur Mahmudi
Ismail, former president of the Justice Party (PK) was leading
the tally with 29,129 or 45 percent of the 66,000 votes counted,
followed by the incumbent Badrul Kamal with 25,602 or 38 percent
of the vote. PK, now the Prosperous Justice Party, enjoys
popularity for its image of conservative Islamic party bent on
combating corruption.

Sunday's election for the mayor of Depok, which is located
south of Jakarta, proceeded smoothly with no major complaints
heard from candidates or voters.

Most polling stations were well-prepared for the event, with
election committee members ushering in eager voters as early as 7
a.m.

"We have monitored all polling stations and found no
significant problems. Most voters lined up orderly and there were
enough committee members at each polling station to serve the
voters," Depok election committee member for information Abdul
Choliq told The Jakarta Post.

A total of 908,890 of Depok's 1.2 million people were eligible
to cast their votes at 1,923 polling stations across the
municipality.

Choliq, however, said that voter turnout had not been ideal.

"Each polling station started counting the ballots at 1 p.m.,
and we found in our monitoring that only about 80 percent of
eligible voters turned up to cast their votes. Probably, they had
something else to do," he said.

A recent telephone poll revealed that 19.5 percent of Depok
residents in the middle- to higher-income brackets and 13.2
percent of residents in the lower-income bracket would not vote
in the election.

Five pairs of candidate contested the June 26 election: Abdul
Wahab and running mate 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 Ismail and Yuyun Wirasaputra.
Nur Mahmudi is a cofounder of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

The provisional election tally showed that Nur Mahmudi, also a
former ministry of forestry, garnered 45 percent of 66,000 votes
counted, followed by Badrul. The other three candidates garnered
a total of around 11,000 votes.

The PKS dominated the legislative election in the Depok area
in 2004, winning 24.49 percent of the vote of 722,225.

Whoever wins Sunday's election, however, has a daunting task
ahead. Voters have expressed high hopes that the direct election
will produce a mayor who can ease chronic traffic congestion,
improve town planning and reduce the gap between high and low
earners in Depok.

"Hopefully the 'cleanest' and most capable pair will win. I
want them to make Depok free from traffic jams. I am sick of
being on the road for hours. Depok traffic is even worse than
Jakarta's," Rani, 27, a resident of Depok Lama subdistrict in
Pancoran Mas district, told the Post after casting his vote.

Around a third of Depok residents work in Jakarta and have to
travel on Jl. Margonda Raya, a road notorious for its traffic
jams due to the several big malls and housing complexes
positioned on it, with more malls under construction.