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fter the post being vacant for five months, Surakarta has eventually elected its deputy mayor. Meanwhile the South Sulawesi governor and vice governor will be sworn in on April 8.

Achmad Purnomo was elected as Surakarta deputy mayor for the 2010-2015 term on Wednesday after getting 34 votes in a plenary session of the Surakarta City Council.

The vote was attended by 39 of the 40 city councilors. Purnomo, 65, received 34 votes while his rival, Teguh Prakosa, 64, currently the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction chief in the council, received three votes. One vote was recorded as void and one was an abstention.

Purnomo replaces F.X. Hadi “Rudy” Rudyatmo as deputy mayor, after he was elected mayor to replace Joko “Jokowi” Widodo who is currently Jakarta governor.

Purnomo, nominated by the National Mandate Party (PAN), was one of Jokowi-Rudy’s rivals in the 2005 mayoral election. He is an entrepreneur and owns various businesses, including a batik factory, pharmacies and gas stations. Purnomo is also active in various social organizations.

He acknowledged that he would not be able to fully concentrate on his job assisting the Surakarta mayor due to his activities. “But I will make the effort to give 90 percent of my attention to my tasks as Surakarta deputy mayor and serve the public alongside the mayor,” said Purnomo after the vote at the municipal council.

“The current programs are all good and touch on the common people’s needs. I have yet to think up new programs because my duty is to accompany and assist the mayor.”

Meanwhile, the South Sulawesi General Elections Commission (KPUD) has confirmed that Syahrul Yasin Limpo and Agus Arifin Nu’mang will be sworn in as governor and deputy governor of South Sulawesi for the 2013-2018 period on April 8. This follows Tuesday’s Constitutional Court ruling against a lawsuit filed by candidate pair Ilham Arief Sirajuddin and Abdul Aziz Qahhar Mudzakkar.

During the South Sulawesi gubernatorial election on Jan. 22, Incumbents Syahrul-Agus garnered 52.42 percent of the vote, beating Ilham-Aziz (41.57 percent) and Andi Rudiyanto Asapa and Andi Nawir Pasinringi (6.01 percent).

However, Ilham-Aziz objected to the results and filed a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court, so the KPUD postponed the scheduled inauguration of Syahrul and Agus.

“The legal process is complete. The Constitutional Court ruled against the lawsuit filed by Ilham and Aziz, so Syahrul and Agus are officially the winners, meaning we must carry out the next election procedure of instating them,” said South Sulawesi KPUD head Jayadi Nas in Makassar on Wednesday.

The incumbents’ term of office will end on April 8, so the KPUD has set that date as the inauguration day of their second term in office. Ilham and Aziz have accepted the court’s ruling, after judges read out the decision, Ilham immediately congratulated Syahrul-Agus via text message.

Ilham, who is also Makassar mayor, called on to his supporters to support and assist the elected governor and deputy governor in carrying out their work over the next five years.

In his victory speech conveyed on Tuesday evening at his official residence, Syahrul invited the defeated candidate pairs to reconcile and erase the opposition created during the election.