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AKARTA: The Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) elected a new chairman in its plenary meeting last week, the office announced on Friday.

Bambang Eka Cahya Widodo would be the new chairman, replacing Nur Hidayat Sadini.

Bawaslu said the election of new chair was in compliance with the first plenary meeting in 2008, which decided that a chairman would lead for 2.5 years, Antara news agency reported. Each Bawaslu team of five worked for five years, meaning this Bawaslu will work until 2013.

“The five members of Bawaslu have decided on this since the beginning of our tenure. I led for the first half of the tenure and Pak Bambang would lead for the second half,” Nur Hidayat said.

Besides Nur Hidayat and Bambang, Bawaslu has three other members: Wahidah Suaib, SF Agustiani Tio Fridelina Sitorus and Wirdyaningsih.

Bambang Eka Cahya Widodo was born in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra, on Dec. 14, 1968. He was a lecturer at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at Yogyakarta Muhammadiyah University, and the dean of the faculty from 2003 to 2007. — JP