T

he gubernatorial candidate pair of Herman Deru-Maphilinda Boer has snatched the lead off incumbent South Sumatra Governor Alex Noerdin and his running partner Ishak Mekki, in the repeat election, quick counts revealed.

According to the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI), the Herman-Maphilinda pair garnered 54.94 percent, followed by Alex-Ishak (34.22 percent), Eddy Santana Putra-Annisa Juwita (7.66 percent) and Iskandar-Hafisz Tohir (3.17 percent) in the repeat gubernatorial election in four regencies and a district.

LSI research director Setia Darma said the quick count could not be combined with the real vote recap conducted by the South Sumatra General Elections Commission (KPUD) at the June 6 poll because it was only a sample.

'€œHowever, we predict the results will not differ by up to 10 percent of the real vote counting by the KPUD,'€ said Setia.

Based on quick count conducted by the Alex-Ishak internal political consultant team Strategos Indonesia, the election was also won by the Herman-Maphilinda pair. The team released its result showing the Herman-Maphilinda reaped 57.27 percent, followed by Alex-Ishak (33.25 percent), Eddy-Annisa (6.48 percent) and Iskandar-Hafisz (3.01 percent).

However, the Alex-Ishak would garner 40.18 percent of the total votes if the quick count result is combined with the KPUD vote recap, followed by Herman-Maphilinda (35.35 percent), Eddy-Annisa (14.30 percent) and Iskandar-Hafisz (10.17 percent).

According to the Puskaptis Derma quick count institute, Herman and Maphilinda reaped 41.01 percent, followed by Alex and Ishak (38.81 percent), Eddy-Annisa (12.42 percent) and Iskandar and Hafisz (7.67 percent) of 92.27 percent of the total ballots.

Herman expressed joy at taking the lead in the repeat election.

'€œWe hope once the KPUD announces the final result, we are successful,'€ said Herman.

Meanwhile, Alex said that he accepted the quick count results. '€œWe would like to thank our supporters,'€ he said.

He said he was prepared if other candidate pairs filed a complaint over the repeat election result, saying that his team had recorded violations also.

'€œWe have collected evidence to be reported to the MK [Constitutional Court],'€ he added.

Separately, Ong Berlian, a member of the South Sumatra KPUD, told the public to be patient and wait for the final result, which would be announced by the committee later on this month.

The repeat election follows the MK'€™s ruling in favor of the Herman-Maphilinda pair'€™s lawsuit against an alleged violation committed by Alex during the campaign season.

The MK'€™s decision declared that Alex had been found to have used money from the social assistance fund '€” Rp 1.4 trillion (US$133 million) '€” in the provincial budget to bankroll his personal campaign.

More than 2 million of the eligible 5 million voters cast their votes on Wednesday.

Vote counting will be carried out on Sept. 5 and 6 at the subdistrict level; Sept. 7 and 8 (district level); Sept. 9 and 10 (regency level); and Sept. 11 and 12 (provincial level). The plenary session will be held on Sept. 13, when the governor and vice governor-elect for the 2013-2018 period will be announced.