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lection day for the Bali gubernatorial election started smoothly on Wednesday morning as residents cast their ballots in more than 6,000 voting stations across the island and ended in a confusing mess in the evening when both camps claimed victory following contradictory quick count results from survey institutions.

The camp of Anak Agung Ngurah Puspayoga and his running mate Dewa Nyoman Sukrawan, the ticket endorsed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), announced that it had won the election by a narrow margin and a small party was seen erupting at the party's regional headquarters in Renon.

Meanwhile, the camp of incumbent Governor Made Mangku Pastika and his running mate Ketut Sudikerta had also declared, albeit in a more reserved tone, its victory. Pastika urged his supporters to remain calm and wait for the official results from the Provincial Elections Commission (KPUD).

These competing victory announcements were triggered by the results of quick counts issued by two different survey and political consulting firms.

A quick count conducted by Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting showed that ticket No. 1, Puspayoga and Sukrawan, grabbed 50.31 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, Pastika and Sudikerta got 49.69 percent of the vote.

However, a quick count conducted by the Indonesian Research Center showed that Pastika-Sudikerta led with 50.01 percent of the vote, while Puspayoga-Sukrawan got only 49.99 percent of the vote.

The quick count results share one significant similarity: the margin of victory was less than 2 percent, a critical element for the surveys that had openly stated they had a one percent margin of error.

'As the margin of gain between the two pairs of candidates is very narrow, less than 2 percent, or in between the quick count's margin error, we concluded that the quick count couldn't be used to predict who will be the actual winner of the election,' said Deni Irvani, a researcher with Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting.

The quick count found that Puspayoga-Sukrawan won the vote in Bangli, Denpasar, Gianyar, Jembrana and Tabanan. Meanwhile, Pastika-Sudikerta led the race in Badung, Buleleng, Karangasem and Klungkung. The survey also found that voter participation reached only 73.67 percent.

'Puspayoga leads in Denpasar, Bangli, Gianyar, Jembrana and Tabanan. Meanwhile Pastika leads in Badung, Buleleng, Karangasem and Klungkung,' concurred Natalia Christianto, a researcher with the Indonesian Research Center.

Dean of the school of social and political sciences at Udayana University, Gusti Putu Bagus Suka Arjawa, said the result of the gubernatorial election had proven that Bali's people were no longer choosing their leader based on political affiliation.

'Now a large number of people make their choice in the gubernatorial election based on the quality of the figure, instead of the endorsement received from a political party. The PDI-P, the largest political party on the island, has ceased to be a dominant player in the gubernatorial election,' he said.

KPUD commissioner Dewa Wiarsa Raka Sandi stated that the commission would not release the official tally until May 25 at the earliest.

Nur Aminah in Gianyar and Alit Kertarahardja in Buleleng contributed to this story