Tension heightens in Depok elections
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.