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Candidates backed by PDI-P lead in Maluku
The pair of Karel Albert Ralahalu and Said Assegaf were in the early lead in vote counting for the Maluku gubernatorial elections on Wednesday
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The pair of Karel Albert Ralahalu and Said Assegaf were in the early lead in vote counting for the Maluku gubernatorial elections on Wednesday.
Based on the quick counts conducted by the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI), Ralahalu and Assegaf, endorsed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), dominated nearly all polling booths in Maluku with 61.81 percent of the votes.
The second position was taken by the Abdullah Tuasikal and Septinus Hematang pair, who are backed by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) with 26.04 percent, according to tempointeraktif.com.
The Aziz Samual-Lukas Uwuratuw pair, supported by the United Development Party (PPP), were in third place with 6.15 percent, while in fourth and last were Mohammad Latuconsina and Aduard Frans, who are supported by the Golkar Party, with 6 percent.
Eka Kusmayadi of the LSI said the winning factor of Maluku incumbent governor Ralahalu and Assegaf was their popularity among local people. "The work performance of Ralahalu is satisfactory," Eka said, adding that the pair won in nearly all demographic groupings.
Ralahalu is known to have widespread support, while Assegaf is the former secretary of the Maluku provincial administration and a noted figure of the Maluku branch of Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Muslim organization.
With 922,000 eligible voters in Maluku, participation reached 85.07 percent, Eka said. The samples of the quick count were taken from 350 of the total of 2,628 polling booths from nine regencies and cities in Maluku.
In the provincial capital of Ambon, East Seram regency and Southeast Maluku regency the Ralahalu-Assegaf pair grabbed major wins, Antara news agency reported.
The pair was in the lead at 480 polling booths in Ambon where 209,834 eligible voters were registered.
The Maluku people flocked to the 2,628 polling booths throughout the province on Wednesday to elect their new governor for the 2008-2013 period.
Not all residents received invitations to vote, however, causing minor protests. The provincial chapter of the General Elections Commission (KPUD Maluku) had announced its list of eligible voters from March to May and extended the announcement for another 10 days to accommodate those who had not been registered.
Tens of thousands of residents were believed not to have received invitations to vote in Southeast Maluku regency and Tual city, according to Antara.
Due to the number of people who could not vote, the local chapter of the Indonesian Muslim Students Association proposed a repeat election.
KPUD Maluku chairman Idrus Tatuhey, however, said there would be no repeat election or any tolerance for those who did not get voting cards because the announcement of eligible voters had been made under existing regulations.
"We've worked in line with the regulations, so it is the mistake of the residents themselves if they did not check their names with their neighborhood community heads," he said.
