Syamsul, Gatot win governor election in North Sumatra

Apriadi Gunawan , The Jakarta Post , Medan | Fri, 04/25/2008 12:11 PM | National

Syamsul Arifin, a dismissed senior figure of the Golkar Party, and running mate Gatot Pujonugroho were elected to govern North Sumatra for the next five years, as officially announced Thursday.

The results were announced on completion of a vote count by the provincial chapter of the General Election Commission (KPUD) in a plenary session attended by the winning pair and R.E. Siahaan's running mate Suherdi and witnesses.

The final results of the count showed among 4.9 million votes the KPUD received, the Syamsul-Gatot pair had won 28.31 percent or 1,396,892votes, Tri Tamtomo and Benny Pasaribu gained 21.69 percent or 1,070,303, Abdul Wahab Dalimunthe and Raden Muhammad Syafi'i gained 17.40 percent or 858,528, the Siahaan-Suherdi pair 16.58 percent or 818,171 and Ali Umri and Maratua Simanjuntak had 16.01 percent or 789,793.

Syamsul and his running mate Gatot were an unseeded pair as they were backed by 11 small parties with small numbers of seats in the province's regental and municipal legislatures. The eleven included the Prosperous Justice Party (which also won the West Java governor race), United Development Party and the Crescent Star Party.

The pair dominated the vote count in nine regencies and municipalities including Medan, Deli Serdang, Serdang Bedagai, Tebing Tinggi, Asahan, Tanjung Balai and Langkat.

Syamsul (incumbent regent of Binjai) and Dalimunthe were dismissed from Golkar for their refusal to run as their candidates in the election.

The Tri-Benny pair nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle were dominant in Labuhan Batu, Simalungun, Pematang Siantar and Samosir. The Dalimunthe-Raden pair, backed by the Democratic Party, National Mandate Party and Reformed Star Party, were dominant in South Tapanuli and Padang Sidempuan.

The Siahaan-Suherdi pair, nominated by 11 small parties including the Prosperous Peace Party, the New Indonesia Party and the National Awakening Party, were dominant in Nias Island, Central Tapanuli, Sibolga, North Tapanuli, Humbang Hasundutan, Toba Samosir and Dairi. The Ali-Maratua pair were dominant only in Mandailing Natal.

KPUD chairman Irham Buana Nasution assured that he would complying with government regulations to submit the results within three days to the provincial legislature, to be delivered to the Home Ministry provided no objections were filed.

"The vote count results will only be held only if any sides file a lawsuit ... saying it (the election result) was reached contrary to regulations," he said.

Nasution said, however, violations made during the campaign season or polling day would not stop the KPUD from submitting the election results to the provincial legislature.

Suherdi said he had no plan to sue the KPUD for the vote count and would accept the outcome (graciously) as he had pledged to do on registering with the KPUD.

Abdul Hakim Siagian, a witness of the Dalimunthe-Raden pair, said his side would file complaints on a number of violations made during the campaign and ballot day, to improve the system for the next election.

Hundreds of supporters of the Tri-Benny pair filed a protest to the KPUD on Wednesday, asking for a halt to the vote count which they said was corrupted with vote rigging.

Governor-elect Syamsul said the numerous problems were a normal part of the election process, "and in a contest, there's always a winner and a loser."

Syamsul would meet with all contenders to ask for their active cooperation in developing the province.

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