Wahidin Halim reelected mayor of Tangerang

Incumbent Tangerang mayor Wahidin Halim and running mate Arief R. Wismansyah have won the municipality's mayoral election with 576,894 votes, the municipal elections commission announced Thursday.

In the municipality's first-ever direct poll, Wahidin and Arief were backed by a coalition of several major political parties, including the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P), the Democratic Party (PD) and the United Development Party (PPP).

In distant second place were Muhamad Bonie Mudfijar and Diedy Faried Wadji with 64,741 ballots cast in their favor, while Ismet Sadeli Hasan and Mahfud Abdullah came in last, with 12,309 votes.

KPUD chairman Imron Khamami said KPUD had registered a total of 972,207 eligible voters, but only 653,944 turned up on Oct. 26 to vote.

Two other candidates and the winning pair were not seen during the final manual count. Ismet Sadeli Hasan was represented by running mate Mahfud Abdullah.

"Each candidate can file their objections to the result within the next three days. We will submit the election results to the municipal legislative council for approval and prepare for the mayor's swearing-in ceremony on Nov. 16," Imron told The Jakarta Post.

He said the commission would distribute forms for the candidates who objected to the result to fill out.

The election took place peacefully on Oct. 26 despite accusations of irregularities.