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ormer Jembrana deputy regent I Putu Artha is leading a quick count in a regional election held on Monday to select the regent for Bali’s western-most region. Artha, whose term as Jembrana deputy regent ended Nov. 15, apparently will win the regency’s direct election according to vote counting by research and political consultant firm Jaringan Suara Indonesia (JSI).

The tally recorded Monday afternoon that Artha and running mate I Made Kembang Hartawan, nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), are in the lead with 44.13 percent of the vote.

The result shows that PDI-P has succeeded in making inroads at a regency known as a Democrat Party (PD) bastion. Jembrana’s previous regent, I Gde Winasa, was a former PDI-P cadre turned PD supporter following the PDI-P’s refusal to back his candidacy in the last gubernatorial race.

Winasa’s son, I Gede Ngurah Patriana Krisna, is one of the candidates in the current regional election. Krisna and his running mate, I Ketut Subanda, are endorsed by PD and the Golkar Party.

The quick count was carried out by randomly taking 68,689 vote samples from 200 polling stations, some 30 percent of the total 214,550 votes in 448 polling stations throughout the regency, with a one percent sampling error. Voter turnout for this election reached 80.9 percent.

“Our quick count results showed that I Putu Artha and I Made Kembang Hartawan gathered 44.13 percent, or 30,310 votes, beating three other contenders in this election [so far],” JSI deputy executive director Fajar S. Tamin said.

He ensured that the quick count results would not deviate far from the final and official results, which would be announced by the Jembrana Election Commission next month.

The quick count, conducted by 200 JSI personnel, placed candidate Patriana Krisna and I Ketut Subanda second by securing 30.72 percent of the total vote samples, or 21,098 votes.

Following in third was I Gusti Made Kartika Jaya and I Gusti Ngurah Cipta Negara, nominated by 12 minor political parties, with 23.19 percent of the total vote sample, or 15,932 votes.

According to the tally, the pair garnering the least amount of votes was I Wayan Dendra and I Ketut Sumantra, nominated by the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) and three minor parties, with only 1.96 percent, or 1,349 votes.

The tally divided Jembrana regency into three zones. The first zone covered Negara and Jembrana districts, the second covered Melaya district and the third covered Mendoyo and Pekutatan districts.
“Putu Artha and Kembang Hartawan received the most votes in the three zones, while Wayan Dendra and Ketut Sumantra gathered the least votes in the three zones,” JSI research director Eka Kusmayadi said.

Kusmayadi ensured that his organization was independent, saying it released the quick count results on its own and not based on any requests by any of the candidates. “We conducted a valid survey and we’re not funded by any of the candidates.”

The election was marred by allegations of money politics after the director of the poll committee in Tuwed Village in Melaya district, I Made Sukarta, was caught red handed disbursing Rp 10,000 to each eligible voter in the village in return for casting their votes for Putu Artha and Kembang Hartawan.