Jakarta - The deputy governor of Jakarta appeared to have comfortably won the Indonesian capital‘s first-ever direct gubernatorial election on Wednesday, which was overshadowed by low turnout among residents sceptical that it would bring change.
Fauzi Bowo beat rival Adang Daradjatun, a former national police deputy chief, by 56 to 44 per cent, according to a quick count by the Indonesian Survey Institute.
The count had a margin of error of between 1 and 2 percentage points and was taken from 400 polling stations.
Vote figures weren‘t released yet, but turnout was expected to be as low as 62 per cent, given results from several polling stations across the sprawling city. There were 5.7 million registered voters.
Security was tight across Jakarta, home to more than 10 million people, as city authorities deployed some 54,000 security personnel, including more than 11,000 policemen, to guard 11,253 polling stations in five municipalities and the Kepulauan Seribu ‘Thousand Islands‘ regency off Jakarta Bay.
Voting began at 7 am (0000 GMT), with a brief ceremony to swear in polling station officials. Ballots were verified before the first voters were admitted.
Wednesday was declared a public holiday in Jakarta to encourage voters to head to the polling stations.
Bowo had yet to declare victory as of Wednesday evening, but Adang discounted the early polling results.
‘I believe I will win,‘ he told reporters at his Jakarta residence, according to detik.com on-line news portal. ‘However, whoever wins, I will respect it.‘
The election marked the first time Jakartans were able to elect their governor directly since the central government approved a decentralisation law in 2004 allowing hundreds of local elections across the vast archipelago nation, the world‘s fourth most-populous country.
Although Indonesia‘s Constitutional Court made a landmark decision last month allowing independent candidates to run in local elections, the registration date to stand in Wednesday‘s poll had already passed, leaving just two candidates.
Opinion polls predicted a low turnout, as voters doubted that either Bowo or Daradjatun could fulfil their lofty campaign promises to ease Jakarta‘s traffic gridlock, clean up choking pollution and improve access to education and healthcare.
Most analysts had expected frontrunner Bowo to win easily as he has secured backing from a coalition of 19 political parties. Daradjatun was supported only by a leading Islamic party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), and some observers feared he would face pressure to try to implement Sharia law in the fiercely secular capital.
But the underdog did have his share of support among Jakartans tired of outgoing Governor Sutiyoso, who is leaving office after being appointed to two five-year terms.
‘I choose Adang (Daradjatun) because I want a change. I hope Adang will make the city much better,‘ said Nuriyah, a 60-year-old housewife and supporter of PKS, at a voting station in east Jakarta. ‘I want him to ease corruption and be able to ease the city‘s traffic jams.‘
Promising clean government, PKS gained national significance when it secured 45 of the 550 seats in the national parliament in the 2004 general elections, up from 1.4 per cent in 1999. PKS also won one-third of the seats on the Jakarta city council in 2004, far more than any other party.
However, a number of voters expressed strong support for Bowo due to his administrative experience as deputy governor.
‘I voted for Fauzi as we all know him well. He has already been at the city administration for years, and I hope he will make the economy better and eventually make my business better,‘ said food vendor Lastri.
Others registered their frustration over the lack of independent candidates by boycotting the election or intentionally spoiling their ballots.
‘I punched both pictures (to mark the candidates) because I hate them both,‘ Frida Attila said after leaving a polling station in south Jakarta. ‘I want somebody else.‘
Official results will be announced on August 18. Many say if Bowo is elected, he is expected to maintain the status quo, which critics charge means more corruption and little progress on social reforms.
Source: news.monstersandcritics.com (13 Agustus 2007)
