Election commission confirms Jakartans elect new governor

Just few hours after counting of ballot papers and the closing of 13,034 polling stations across Jakarta during the second round gubernatorial election held on April 19, quick counts conducted by several pollsters showed that most of the Jakartans decided to have a new governor and deputy governor. 

Based on the quick count conducted by Polmark, incumbent Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) and his pair Djarot Saiful Hidayat, or known as Ahok-Djarot, collected 42.33 percent, while contender Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno, or Anies-Sandi, won 57.67 percent. According to Indobarometer, Anies-Sandi won 58.50 percent and Ahok-Djarot won 41.50 percent.

The next day, Jakarta General Election Commission (KPU Jakarta) uploaded the temporary results on its official website, showing 42.05 percent (2,351,245 votes) for the Ahok-Djarot pair and 57.95 percent (3,240,332 votes) for the Anies-Sandi pair. 

The results were real, although it was not official, as KPU Jakarta was in the process of manual counting.

On April 29 after completing the manual ballot recapitulation, KPU Jakarta announced that Anies-Sandi pair has emerged the winners of the Jakarta gubernatorial election (pilkada).

Anies-Sandi won 57.96 percent (3,240,987 votes) from a total of 5,591,353 votes, Sumarno, chairman of the KPU Jakarta, said following a plenary meeting on recapitulation of ballot count.

The pair defeated incumbent Ahok-Djarot, who collected 42.04 percent (2,350,366 votes).

"We will officially announce the results on Friday (May 5), if there is no one filing a lawsuit disputing the results to the Constitutional Court (MK)," Sumarno stated.

Any candidate has the right to convey an objection regarding the election results to the MK within three days (May 2 to 4), in line with the Law No 10 Year 2016 on Regional Head Elections.

He explained that a witness of Ahok-Djarot refused to sign the recapitulation document as the witness expressed objection to the results of the voting in Central Jakarta.

The refusal, however, would not affect the legitimization of the pilkada, he stated. 

Anies-Sandi won the elections in five municipalities and one district of Jakarta, namely Kepulauan Seribu District, and the municipalities of North Jakarta, West Jakarta, Central Jakarta, East Jakarta, and South Jakarta.

In the Kepulauan Seribu District, Anies-Sandi won 62 percent (8,796 votes), of the total 14,187 votes, while Ahok-Djarot won 38 percent (5,391 votes).

In North Jakarta, Anies-Sandi got 52.73 percent (466,340 of the total 884,408 votes), while Ahok-Djarot won 47.27 percent (418,068 votes).

In West Jakarta, Anies-Sandi collected 52.8 percent (684,980 of the total 1,296,739 votes), while Ahok-Djarot won 47.18 percent (611,759 votes).

In Central Jakarta, Anies-Sandi collected 57.77 percent (333,033 of the total 576,449 votes), while Ahok-Djarot won 42.23 percent (243,416 votes).

In East Jakarta, Anies-Sandi won 61.87 percent (993,173 of the total 1,605,266 votes), while Ahok-Djarot won 38.13 percent (612,093 votes).

In South Jakarta, Anies-Sandi got 62.15 percent (754,665 of the total 1,214,304 votes), while Ahok-Djarot 37.85 percent (459,639). 

The voter turnout in Jakartas pilkada was 77.08 percent of the total eligible voters amounting 7,218,280 people. The largest voter turnout, notably 80.75 percent, was in Kepulauan Seribu District. 

The new Jakarta governor and deputy governor will be inaugurated in Oct this year.

Sandiaga Uno, a young and successful businessman, has called on his supporters to celebrate the victory modestly.

"We want a simple celebration. We dont want a luxurious celebration. Keep low profile. We want to create a unifying environment," he said after attending the KPU Jakarta plenary meeting.

Anies Baswedan, former education minister, has promised to unite the residents of Jakarta again, as political tensions had run high during campaigning for the pilkada.

Jakartas inhabitants had been divided and had heated arguments on social media regarding their candidates. Hoax, black campaign materials, and money politics were reported during the election process, but luckily, no physical violence occurred.

On the contrary, during the polling day on April 19, Jakarta was peaceful, and the election was held smoothly and democratically. 

The runoff was held after no candidate pair managed to gain a majority in the first round of the Jakarta pilkada held on Feb 15, which was contested by three candidate pairs.

The three candidate pairs that took part in the election were Agus Harimurti-Sylviana Murni (Agus-Sylviana), Ahok-Djarot, and Anies-Sandi.

In the first round of the election, Agus-Sylviana received 17.07 percent (937,955 votes); Ahok-Djarot received 42.99 percent (2,364,577 votes); and Anies-Sandi received 39.95 percent (2,197,333 votes).

The results of the second round of the election showed that the votes for Ahok-Djarot remained the same as the first round, at some 42 percent, while the Anies-Sandi pairs votes significantly increased from around 39 percent to over 57 percent.

Source: ANTARA