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P>As Jakartans went to cast their votes Wednesday - some still in their pajamas, others caked in make up -residents of three neighborhoods in West Jakarta's Taman Sari subdistrict went to the polls with nothing more than the clothes on their backs and their grief.

Over 50 homes in the area were razed by a fire Tuesday morning.

Euis, who's home was destroyed by the blaze, was consoling her children, who lost their new school uniforms to the fire, when The Jakarta Post visited their temporary shelter on election day.

"I still have my voting invitation and my ID card," Euis said.

Agus, who too finds himself homeless, said he was not allowed to vote because he had neither an ID card nor an invitation.

"All of them went up in smoke," he said. "I'd be more than happy to exercise my democratic rights, but what can you do?"

Mahdi, head of neighborhood 14, however said that there was no such denial of rights. "That's nonsense," he said, having just counted votes along with Yus Rusli, head of neighborhood 12, "as long as one is registered on the electoral roll they were allowed to vote."

Not all of the victims stayed to vote.

"After the fire, most of the victims left the area temporarily," polling officer Masyitoh said, explaining that many victims were staying with relatives far away.

"Only 353 out of the 786 registered voters voted," she said.

The day saw the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono-Boediono pair win 237 votes in the neighborhood, almost three times the 87 votes cast for the Megawati-Prabowo ticket. Kalla and Wiranto were supported by just 12 people.

Some residents watching the count were briefly distracted when Yus Rusli's wife cut her left foot trying to salvage a sheet of corrugated iron that had been part of their roof. People took her to the nearest health clinic by bajaj (three wheeled motorized taxi).

But the incident failed to turn Yus Rusli's head, who remained focused on calculating votes.

He did not panic and concentrated on the task before him. "That can wait," he said, as he reached for another ballot. "We have to finish this first."

Patonah, Euis's brother, who also lost almost everything to the fire, shared Yus's spirit.