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Dharma’s surprising uptick in support reflects growing protest votes
The sudden uptick in votes for unsuccessful candidate Dharma Pongrekun, who ran independently in the three-way Jakarta governor election, appears to reflect a growing discontent toward candidates nominated by political parties.
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The candidate pairs for the governor and deputy governor of Jakarta, Ridwan Kamil and Suswono (left), Dharma Pongrekun and Kun Wardana (center), and Pramono Anung and Rano Karno show their ballot numbers after the draw for the numbers at the Jakarta General Elections Commission office on Sept. 23, 2024. (Antara Foto/Sulthony Hasanuddin)
T
he sudden uptick in votes for unsuccessful candidate Dharma Pongrekun, who ran independently in the three-way Jakarta gubernatorial election, appears to reflect a growing discontent toward candidates nominated by political parties.
Opinion polls before the Nov. 27 election consistently put Dharma in the single digits, way lower than his rivals Pramono Anung of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the second-largest party in Jakarta by legislative representation, and Ridwan Kamil of the pro-government Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM).
But Dharma and running mate Kun Wardana surprised their two rivals and political observers on Sunday, when the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta) announced the final tally of the race.
Dharma garnered 459,230 votes, 10.53 percent of the total vote, almost twice what most pollsters had predicted ahead of voting day.
He lagged behind Ridwan, who came second with 1.71 million votes, 39.4 percent, and the winning candidate Pramono, who won 2.18 million votes, 50.07 percent, enough to secure a single-round victory unless Ridwan’s camp can mount a successful challenge at the Constitutional Court.
Protest vote
Observers have attributed the Dharma-Kun pair’s surprising showing to the growing number of “protest votes” among the highly educated Jakarta voters who cast their ballots for a candidate with little chance of winning in order to express their disapproval of the candidates chosen to run in the race.
