Tension heightens in Depok elections
Abdul Khalik and Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Bogor
Protests and intimidation overshadowed vote counting in the Depok mayoral elections on Tuesday, prompting the Depok General Elections Commission (KPUD) to hold the tally until the counting is completed.
Over 100 people from various groups including the National Movement on Succession, Depok Coalition for Justice, and Depok Youth Organization, rallied in front of the KPUD office on Tuesday to protest the counting process that they claimed was marred by cheating.
Wearing T-shirts bearing the face of mayoral candidate Badrul Kamal of the Golkar Party, the protesters accused Nur Mahmudi Ismail of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) of rigging the municipal election and demanded a rerun.
Badrul himself appeared as a witness in a corruption trial involving 17 former Depok legislative members at the Cibinong District Court on Tuesday. They have been charged with misusing public funds resulting in state losses valued at Rp 7.5 billion (US$800,000).
Nur Mahmudi, one of the founders of the Justice Party (PK) that later became the PKS and former minister of forestry, was leading in the provisional tally on Monday.
The protesters left the KPUD office on Jl. Sawangan at 3:30 p.m. after holding a dialog with KPUD members. Before leaving the office they pulled down KPUD's signboard.
Nur Mahmudi's supporters came to the KPUD office on Monday after it announced earlier in the day that Badrul was leading the provisional tally.
KPUD chairman Zulfadli told the public on Tuesday to direct complaints to the Depok Elections Monitoring Committee (Panwaslu), which has the authority to follow up alleged violations.
"We feel that they are trying to intimidate us. They should play by the rules if they have something to complain about," he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Zulfadli said that he had received several anonymous death threats, prompting him to seek police protection.
"These people are trying to slow down the counting process. Many of our colleagues at district levels also received threats. They are now very afraid. But I have asked the police to guard us," he said.
He said that to avoid more conflicts, his office had decided to wait until all votes had been verified by the KPUD before announcing the final results.
"Currently, we have received results from two districts. Votes from four other districts are still being counted," Zulfadli said.
After counting a total of 91,669 votes from Beji and Limo districts on Monday, KPUD said on Monday that Nur Mahmudi had garnered 44,315 votes or 48 percent of the vote, while former Depok mayor Badrul had only 32,954 votes or 36 percent. Three other candidates shared the remaining 16 percent.
There are six districts in Depok with total registered voters of 908,890.
Zulfadli said earlier that only 60 percent of voters turned up to cast their votes.
PKS dominated the legislative elections in Depok in 2004, winning 24.49 percent of 722,225 votes.