Rebuild Brotherhood
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The General Elections Commission (KPU) admitted that there were still a number of shortcomings in the implementation of the concurrent regional elections in 101 regions on Wednesday (15/2). However, generally, the second set of concurrent elections had run smoothly and safely.
As voting in the 2017 concurrent regional elections was drawing to an end, President Joko Widodo asked for the differences in political choices that had emerged during the election to also be put to an end.
“The regional elections are the people’s democracy party; don’t let differences in political choice disrupt our unity. We hope that everyone can return from the regional elections as brothers,” said the President after voting at polling station no. 4 in Gambir sub-district, Gambir district, Central Jakarta.
The President turned up at the polling station at 10.05 a.m. with his wife Iriana. “As residents of Jakarta, my wife and I are using our right to vote for the Jakarta governor and deputy governor,” the President said.
Of the 101 regions that held elections yesterday, Jakarta almost certainly will be the only region to go to a second round. This is because, unlike other regions, to win the Jakarta election, a candidate pair must gain a minimum of 50 percent plus one valid vote. Based on the quick count results carried out by a number of institutions, including Kompas Research and Development, no candidate pair had manage to achieve the minimum vote to win.
Round two of the Jakarta regional election will likely see candidate pairs Basuki Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat and Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno compete. Candidate pair Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono-Sylviana Murni, meanwhile, will not take part in the second round as they finished in third place.
“Gallantly and gracefully, I accept my defeat in the Jakarta regional election,” said Agus, accompanied by Sylvi, in his speech last night.
Agus said he had congratulated Basuki Tjahaja Purnama in a phone call. He had also attempted to contact Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno, but because of the pair’s busy agenda, he said he had not been able to congratulate them in person.
Evaluation
The latest results from yesterday’s regional elections in a number of regions indicate that the public carried out their own evaluation with regard to political parties and party elites breaking the law.
This was seen, for example, in Cimahi city, West Java. The vote count result by the KPU based on scanning the C1 forms, or vote count result certificates, at the TPS level, with 11.33 percent of data already in, showed incumbent pair Atty Suharti-Achmad Zulkarnain had received 27.08 percent of the votes. They were behind Asep-Irma (31.36 percent) and Ajay-Ngatiyana (41.49 percent). Atty is currently being detained by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in relation to bribery.
Another KPK detainee, Samsu Umar Abdul Samiun, is believed to have won against an empty box in the Buton regional election, Southeast Sulawesi. However, with the KPU’s data reaching 74.65 percent, votes for Samsu Umar, whose candidate partner is La Bakry, was 51.70 percent, only marginally ahead of the empty box (48.30 percent).
Meanwhile, in Pati regency, Central Java, Haryanto-Saiful Arifin had gained 68.45 percent of the votes against an empty box (31.55 percent) with 7.06 percent of data already in.
Yesterday, a number of incidents linked to the Jakarta final voter list also occurred. On the final voter list at polling station no. 3, Pulo sub-district, Kebayoran Baru district, South Jakarta, for example, the name Joop Ave was still recorded, despite the fact that the former New Order era minister, who was born on Dec. 5, 1934, had passed away in 2014. Pulo sub-district polling committee member Marthien Willem Hatu admitted that the final voter list still had the names of former residents who had passed away.
At the same time, a number of voters in Jakarta showed their discontent in not being able to vote. This happened despite the fact that they brought with them their electronic ID card and family card and had tried to complete the administrative requirements to vote. This, for example, happened at polling station no. 88 in Mutiara complex, Taman Palem, Cengkareng and polling station no. 2 Duri Kepa sub-district, Kebon Jeruk district, West Jakarta.
Ida Fitri, 39, along with around 100 other residents, could not exercise her right to vote because the local poll administrators (KPPS) at polling station no. 88 in Cengkareng did not have enough ballots. Their names were not on the final voter list, however, they had completed the administrative requirements at the sub-district office. “My husband went to the sub-district office twice to take care of my right to vote, but there was no response. We were also asked to go to another polling station, but were kicked out of it so we came back to the initial one. They promised there would be 220 additional ballots,” she said.
Similar incidents occurred in other regions. At polling station II West Manokwari sub-district, West Papua, for example, there were 207 residents whose names were not on the final voter list. Meanwhile, at polling station no. 14 West Manokwari, only 285 ballots were available when there were 385 voters on the final voter list.
KPU commissioner Ferry Kurnia Rizkiyansyah said that the difficulty faced by voters whose names were not on the final voter list should have been dealt with by field officials. Election supervisors in the field at the district level and the sub-district polling committees (PPS) could coordinate with polling administrators at the polling stations experiencing such problems. The shortage of ballots could also have been resolved by coordinating with poll administrators in the field. “If there were insufficient ballots, the KPPS could have coordinated with the local PPS to take ballots from the nearest polling station,” he said.
Although there had been shortcomings here and there, Ferry said, generally, the implementation of the regional elections had gone well.
Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo also said that generally the regional elections has run safely and smoothly.
(TIM KOMPAS)