Poso election goes ahead peacefully amid fears of conflict
Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Poso
Balloting in the Central Sulawesi town of Poso proceeded peacefully on Thursday, with people shrugging off blasts that marred the preparations for the polls.
Voting started at 7 a.m. and ended at 1 p.m., with residents packing some polling stations to cast their votes.
A Poso resident, Muhammad Sidik, said the blasts on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the finding of explosive devices in some parts of the city on Wednesday night, were efforts of irresponsible people trying to disrupt the peaceful conditions ahead of the elections. "Thank God Poso residents are not affected," he said.
Alex Patombo, a resident in Tentena -- a predominantly Christian area some 60 kilometers of Poso -- believed the blasts were intended to try and have the elections canceled.
The provisional vote count as of 3:45 p.m. from three out of 12 districts showed the candidate pair Piet Inkiriwang-Abdul Muthalib Rimi (Prosperous Peace Party) were in the lead with 9,153 votes out of the 115,779 registered voters across the regency.
They were followed by F. Edy Bungkundapu-Awad Alamri, who are backed by the Golkar Party, with 5,076 votes.
Head of the Poso Elections Committee, Yasin Mangun, said the result was provisional and the final results would be officially known on July 14.
"We're still referring to provisional vote counting from polling stations that have completed vote counting," Yasin said.
Acting Poso regent, Andi Azikin Suyuti, said that after the official vote counting result is signed, the newly elected regent will be installed on Aug. 11.
All the five teams of candidates contesting the elections -- Dede K. Atmawijaya-Lies Sigilipu (Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, Democratic Party and Pioneers' Party); Abdul Muin Pusadan-Osbert Yusran Walenta (National Mandate Party and other small parties); Edy Bungkudapu-Awad Alamri (Golkar Party); Piet Inkiriwang-A. Muthalib Rimi (Prosperous Peace Party); and Frans Wangulemba Sawolinu-Abdul Kahar Latjare (Pancasila Patriots' Party) -- closely monitored the vote counting process.
Dede K. Atmawijaya, who has so far obtained 2,780 votes, expressed optimism that there was still hope that he could win.
"The vote counting is not yet over. I'm still optimistic of winning," Dede told The Jakarta Post on Thursday. He added that if he is not elected as Poso regent, he will be able to go back to his unit at the Wirabuana military command.
Meanwhile, elections in Tolitoli regency, that were also scheduled to be held on Thursday, were postponed until July 14 in order to complete voter registration.
A member of Central Sulawesi Elections Committee, Rev. Dharma Sallata Putera, said there was a need to validate some registered voters in the regency. He added that on the present electoral list, some of the voters had in fact already died, some where still babies, and others were active military personnel.
"Based on that, we decided to postpone elections in Tolitoli for two weeks," Dharma said.
Meanwhile in the North Sumatra town of Sibolga, the elections went ahead as scheduled on Thursday after being postponed for three days from the earlier scheduled date of June 27.
According to secretary of Sibolga municipal administration, Dahwir Nasution, voting went ahead at all polling stations in the city's four districts.
He said the number of registered voters in the elections slightly increased compared to the previous legislative and presidential elections. This year, 56,361 people were registered to vote, up from the previous 52,932.