T

he regental election in Bangkalan, Madura, East Java on Wednesday, ran safely and smoothly despite the riots that erupted following Monday’s disqualification of one pair of candidates.

Up to 880,029 eligible voters from 18 districts throughout the regency headed to polling booths at 7 a.m. to cast their votes.

“There are 1,854 polling booths where they can vote,” Bangkalan General Elections Commission (KPUD) chairman Fauzan Djakfar said as quoted by Antara news agency.

Two candidate pairs ran for election, namely Nizar Zahro and running mate Zulkifli, and Makmun Ibnu Fuad and running mate Mundir Rofii.

The third pair — KH Imam Bukhori Kholil and Zainal Alim — was disqualified on Monday after the state administrative court found the pair had failed to meet administrative requirements.

The Bangkalan Police deployed 3,500 personnel, consisting of police officers and soldiers with backup from local government police officers, to maintain security.

Meanwhile, a similar election was held in Madura’s regency of Sampang, which was recently the scene of a deadly attack by against Shia followers for alleged heresy.

Shiites have been forced to take shelter at a local sports center after Sunnis, the predominant sect of Islam practiced in Madura, attacked and burned their village, homes and fields, on Aug. 26. The violence, which left two people dead, is thought to have started out of a belief that Shia teachings were heretical.

The Sampang General Election Commission (KPUD) ensured dozens of Shiites housed at the temporary shelter of their right to vote.

“We have coordinated with the security officers to protect them as they cast their votes at the nearest polling booths. We’ve disseminated election information at the refugee camps,” Agus Sumaryono, the head of KPUD Sampang, said.

The 86 Shia followers were part of the 675,870 voters eligible to participate in the election, according to KPUD Sampang.

“In order to prevent riots like in Bangkalan, we have coordinated with the police to deploy 1,462 security officers at the 1,462 polling booths in Sampang,” Agus said.

Six candidate pairs ran in the Sampang regental election, namely the pairings of incumbent Sampang Regent Noer Tjahja and Heri Purnomo; Fannan Hasib and Fadhilah Budiono; Yahya Hamiduddin and Faisol Mubarok; Haryono Abdul Bari and Hamduddin; Faisol Muqoddas and Triyadi Husnul
Yaqin; and Hermanto Subaidi and Djakfar Sodiq.

Ishaq Wahyudi, head of the Sampang Election Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu), said that during the election stages, a number of violations were found, like the destruction of banners, vote-buying and voter intimidation.

“Other violations include the recruitment of civil servants and members of the Sampang administration as campaign staff for certain candidates,” he said.

Aside from Sampang and Bangkalan in Madura, an election was also held in East Java’s Nganjuk regency on Wednesday.