In a leaked letter to Jokowi dated a day after the election on April 17, the regent requests a resignation because even though he had promoted all the “significant development achievements” in the region, “he did not succeed in fixing people’s way of thinking”.

According to internal data from both camps, Jokowi’s rivals, Prabowo Subianto and running mate Sandiaga Uno, won the election in Mandailing Natal with about 80 percent of the vote.

Quick count results from 12 survey institutions show that, nationwide, Jokowi won the election.

Dahlan confirmed his request and the authenticity of the letter on Sunday to journalists.

“My reason is clearly written in the letter,” he said on Sunday, referring to the leaked letter.

Dahlan, who was an incumbent at that time, and his running mate Muhammad Jafar Sukhairi Nasution were elected by more than 103,000 voters or 56.5 percent of the votes during the regional head election in 2015. He was endorsed by the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Gerindra Party, the Democratic Party, the National Mandate Party and the NasDem Party.

“[...] I, along with local leaders and ulema in Jakarta and Medan [provincial capital], have enlightened people from all walks of life about the achievements. However, we did not succeed in fixing people’s way of thinking to support the development. For that, I ask for forgiveness from the President and express my responsibility for this inconvenience. With the humbleness in my heart, please permit me to tender my resignation as Mandailing Natal regent,” the regent says in the letter.

“I feel it is necessary to add that even though I won’t be the regent anymore, I declare my loyalty to Bapak and I will be ready to help Bapak if you need me,” he writes.

Bapak translates to father in Indonesian but it is also a formal way of addressing a superior, teacher or elder.

A resignation of a regional leader has to be approved by a local legislative council and the Home Ministry.

Mandailing Natal, often referred to as Madina, is a regency with more than 400,000 residents and borders West Sumatra province. Ninety-six percent of its residents are Muslims.

According to the General Elections Commission, there were about 285,000 registered voters in the regency.

The head of the North Sumatra chapter of the PDI-P, Japorman Saragih, who was also a member of the campaign team for Jokowi and running mate Ma’ruf Amin, said the resignation was nothing unusual. He said his party did not pressure Dahlan to resign.

“We did not pressure him to do anything. We see his resignation as something a regional leader can do,” Japorman told the Post on Sunday.

Without citing his source, Japorman said he was surprised to learn that the vote for Jokowi and Ma’ruf was between 20 and 30 percent. “It’s below our expectations,” he said.

Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said the reason behind the resignation was rather “unusual” and “hurt the public who have directly elected him”.

The minister added that the letter had been submitted to the wrong party.

“It was supposed to be sent to the regional representatives council and then forwarded to the Home Ministry via gubernatorial letter,” he said. “We’ll review the letter.”

The head of Prabowo’s campaign team, Erwin Efendi Lubis, said Prabowo won 83.6 percent of the vote in the regency. He said Prabowo won by a landslide in 22 districts.

“Mandailing Natal residents are very happy with this victory,” Erwin said.

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