Susilo leads in Greater Jakarta

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Tangerang/Bekasi

Former coordinating ministers Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Muhammad Jusuf Kalla jumped out to big lead over incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri and her running mate Hasyim Muzadi in the presidential election in Greater Jakarta, according to the provisional vote count on Monday evening.

As of 8:30 p.m., Susilo and Kalla had received 69.95 percent of the 1,172,791 ballots that had been counted, compared to Megawati and Hasyim with 30.05 percent, according to the General Elections Commission (KPU)'s website.

The provisional results of a quick count organized by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) had Susilo and Kalla winning 66 percent of the vote in the capital.

Jakarta General Elections Commission chairman Muhamad Taufik said that in general, voting in the capital had been peaceful and without incident.

"The provisional vote count can be accessed this evening. But, of course, the official result will not be announced until after the manual count," he said, adding that this would take at least two days.

Taufik said counting the votes would be a much quicker process than in the first round of the presidential election because now there were only two candidates involved.

"We also have improved the technique for filling in the forms so that the counting at the polling stations was faster," he said.

In Tangerang, Susilo and Kalla took the majority of polling stations. According to the provisional count, they had 80.29 percent of the 12,980 votes that had been counted, compared to Megawati and Hasyim with 19.71 percent.

At the polling station in the Tangerang Boys Correctional Facility, Susilo and Kalla received 104 votes, compared to 60 for Megawati and Hasyim.

At the polling station in Benteng Makasar, which is home to a large Chinese-Indonesian population, Megawati and Hasyim received 90 votes compared to 79 for Susilo and Kalla.

Tangerang Mayor Wahidin Halim said he was confident residents would accept the election results.

"During this historical direct presidential election, the situation in Tangerang municipality has been very good. I am sure the public will accept whoever wins the election," he said.

In Bekasi, preliminary results announced by the media center of the Bekasi General Elections Commission showed that Susilo and Kalla had 372,817 votes compared to 137,262 votes for Megawati and Hasyim, as of 6:30 p.m.

Provisional Results as of 8:30 p.m.

Municipality/Regency Megawati-Hasyim Susilo-Kalla

Kep. Seribu 3,929 3,930

South Jakarta 76,289 228,198

East Jakarta 84,346 236,625

Central Jakarta 72,271 136,159

West Jakarta 85,397 161,735

North Jakarta 30,182 53,730

Total 352,414 (30.05%) 820,377 (69.95%)

Total Votes 1,172,791

Source: General Elections Commission (KPU)