Golkar candidate wins Riau gov race

Rizal Harahap ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Riau   |  Tue, 10/07/2008 9:58 AM  |  Headlines

The Riau General Elections Commission (KPUD) on Monday declared Rusli Zainal, nominated by the Golkar Party, as the winner of the province's gubernatorial election.

"There will be no runoff election because Rusli won more than 50 percent of votes," KPUD chairman Syofyan Samad told The Jakarta Post after a plenary session on the recapitulation of the votes.

Based on the manual recapitulation, Rusli, the incumbent governor, won 1,069,196 of the total 1,859,997 votes cast in the Sept. 22 election.

With support from the United Development Party, the National Awakening Party and the Reform Star Party, Rusli and his running mate Mambang Mit defeated Chaidir and his running mate Suryani, who got 390,948 votes, and Thamsir Rahman and his running mate Taufan Andodo Yakin, who got 399,853 votes.

Chaidir was backed by a coalition comprising the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the Crescent Star Party, the Patriot Party and the Ulema National Awakening Party.

Thamsir was backed by the National Mandate Party, the Democratic Party, the Labor Party, the Prosperous Justice Party and 12 minor parties.

However, representatives of the losing candidates refused to sign the recapitulation document, claiming Rusli had misused his position as the incumbent governor to win the election.

"We cannot accept the result of the recapitulation. We found indications of cheating, such as a regent who mobilized people to support one of the candidates. It caused our candidate to lose votes," said Chaidir/Suryani representative Yana.

Manahan Hutagaol, a representative for Thamsir/Taufan, said his team would file a lawsuit with the Supreme Court to challenge the result of the election.

Both representatives also refused to acknowledge election results from several regencies, including Rokan Hulu, Bengkalis, Pelalawan and Pekanbaru.

However, the KPUD head brushed aside the objections raised by the representatives.

"It's a final and legitimate decision, despite their refusal to sign the document," Syofyan said.

Commenting on his victory, Rusli thanked the people of Riau for giving him a second chance to lead the natural-resource-rich province.

"We hope all parties can accept and respect the result of the recapitulation. There should be no sense of defeat, because it's a victory for the people," he said.

Rusli's win is only Golkar's second win in gubernatorial elections, following Alex Noerdin's victory in South Sumatra.

The party's candidates fell short in recent gubernatorial elections, including in West, Central and East Java, Lampung, North Sumatra, Bali and South Sulawesi.

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