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Saiful Illah claims victory in Sidoarjo election
Saiful Illah and running mate Hadi Sutjipto claimed victory Monday in Sidoarjo's regency election although the local election body has yet to officially announce results
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aiful Illah and running mate Hadi Sutjipto claimed victory Monday in Sidoarjo's regency election although the local election body has yet to officially announce results.
"Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God). This is a victory for the people," Saiful said Monday.
The ticket was nominated by the National Awakening Party (PKB) and Prosperous Justice Party (PKS),
Saiful said he would improve the condition of Sidoarjo and thoroughly handle the ongoing mudflow disaster, adding that he would tackle related problems such as compensation payments and infrastructure development.
"I will prioritize environmental problems and the people's welfare," said Saiful, who was previously elected Sidoarjo's deputy regent for the 2005-2010 term.
Prosperous Justice Party's (PKS) Sidoarjo chapter chairman Aditya Nindyatman said the party's quick count showed Saiful's ticket garnered 459,568 votes (60.38 percent) and the Bambang Prasetyo Widodo-Khoirul Huda ticket collected 146,421 votes (17.84 percent).
The Emy Susanti-Khulaim Junaidi ticket captured 11.09 percent of the vote, Yuniwati Teryana-Sarto, 7.36 percent and independent ticket Agung Subaly-Syamsul Wachid, 3.34 percent, Aditya said.
The poll Sunday was marked by low turnout, with only 36.14 percent of 1,286,649 eligible voters participating.
Saiful, a fish pond and shrimp farm owner, has been criticized for alleged irregularities during his tenure as deputy regent. Several non-governmental organizations have alleged Saiful was involved in fraud and illegal land seizures.
Mohammad Ihsan, a mudflow disaster victim, said many people voted for Saiful because there was no better choice.
"We initially planned not to vote but then realized that not voting would benefit the two other candidates from Lapindo Brantas Inc. We don't want them to lead Sidoarjo," Ihsan said.
Lapindo Brantas has been blamed for the ongoing mudflow disaster, which has displaced thousands of residents from Porong since it began in 2005.
Candidates Yuniwati Teryana and Bambang Prasetyo Widodo are Lapindo Brantas executives and were nominated by the Democratic Party and the Golkar Party, respectively.
