Poso election goes ahead peacefully amid fears of conflict
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.