T

hree Jakarta citizens filed a judicial review on Friday with the Constitutional Court against a regulation that mandates a runoff in the gubernatorial election, a move that if approved could serve as a shortcut to the victory of out-of-towner Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

Satrio Fauzia Damarjati, Abdul Havid Permana and Mohammad Huda argued that a second-round election would be a waste of taxpayer money.

“It is better to spend it for other public needs. A runoff only benefits the poll organizers and political parties,” Satrio was quoted by kompas.com.

The poll body is planning to spend at least Rp 55 billion (US$5.83 million) for the runoff, relatively lower compared to the Rp 199 billion that it spent for the election’s first round.

Article 11 in the 2007 Law on Jakarta Special Province Administration mandates that if none of the candidates win more than 50 percent of votes, a runoff is to be held for the two top vote-getters.

The plaintiffs said that the regulation contradicted the 2008 Law on Regional Administration, which stated that if none of the candidates wins more than half of votes, the winner is the one with more than 30 percent of votes.

According to a number of quick counts by several pollsters, Jokowi finished first in Wednesday’s Jakarta gubernatorial election and will face incumbent Governor Fauzi Bowo in a runoff on Sept. 20.

Quick counts by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), Kompas daily and Indo Barometer showed that Jokowi won the race with at least 42 percent of votes, followed by Fauzi with around 34 percent.

The quick counts result turns heads as previous surveys predicted that Jokowi and Fauzi would be the candidates to square off in a second round of voting, but with the latter securing first place with a result far above the other five contenders.

Separately, the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta) said that they would continue with its vote counting process and later the scheduled preparation for a runoff.

“We will wait for a final decision from the Constitutional Court. We will obey whatever verdict, but in the meantime we will continue with our obligatory work,” Aminullah, a commissioner of the KPU Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post.

When asked for comments, Fauzi said he had no problems with the judicial review request.

“They should go ahead. I don’t have any problem with that,” the governor told reporters at the City Hall in the afternoon.

Fauzi, who had been largely out of the reporters sights on Thursday, had apparently gone back to his regular activities on Friday.

The governor attended a plenary at the City Council earlier in the morning. Fauzi was seen with more of a smile on his face than usual as he answered question from reporters and also during live TV interviews late in the afternoon.

KPU Jakarta head of campaign affairs Suhartono said that the poll body was planning to establish rules that would oblige candidates qualifying for the runoff to report their campaign funds. (sat)