Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
The first-ever direct election for Tangerang mayor ran peacefully Sunday with preliminary counts putting incumbent mayor Wahidin Halim in the lead.
It was reported that 90 percent of registered voters turned up to vote.
The high turnout was unexpected as most Tangerang residents work in Jakarta and therefore tended not to be well-informed about the municipal election.
Polling stations, particularly in suburbs on the border of Jakarta, saw as many as 10 people at a time turning up between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Many residents said they had good knowledge only of Wahidin, who is trying to secure his second term.
"I know a lot about Wahidin Halim but nothing about the other two candidates," said Jusniati of Tajur subdistrict, Cileduk.
Tangerang municipality, formerly part of the Tangerang regency, stretches from the fast-growing western outskirts of Jakarta to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in the northwest.
When the municipality was established in 1993, it had six districts but has now developed into 13 districts with a total population of 1.4 million.
As of Sunday afternoon, the municipal elections commission had recorded about a turnout of 90 percent and put the pair of Wahidin and Arief Wismansyah in the lead with 89.07 votes, followed by Muhamad Bonie Mudfijar and Diedy Farid Wadji with 9.19 percent, and Ismet Sadeli Hasan and Abdullah Mahfud trailing with 1.8 percent votes.
"We got the preliminary results from an electronic count reported by 83 polling stations," commission chairman Imron Khamami said, adding there were 2,276 polling stations set up across the municipality.
The final results are expected Monday afternoon.
The commission registered 909,800 eligible voters for the election.
Wahidin, who looked tense while waiting for information on the result, said he had not set a target for the votes.
"I never set a target of a percentage of votes to win. I will thank God if I am reelected mayor," he said.
"It means I can continue the development programs I'm already committed to."
Separately, Tangerang Elections Supervisory Body chairman Syafril Elain said that during his inspections of five polling stations, he noticed that three of the stations did not have all the polling booths covered.
"There was no cover behind the voters which means (their vote) could just be seen from behind when they voted for a candidate and the secrecy of the ballot was not guaranteed at all," he said.
Syafril said he believed the three noncompliant polling stations were among many that failed to ensure voters' privacy.
Wahidin and Arief, president director of Sari Asih Group, which manages several hospitals in Tangerang and Serang, are backed by a coalition of 15 political parties including the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P), the Democratic Party, the United Development Party (PPP), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Star Crescent Party (PBB), the Reform Star Party (PBR) and the National Awakening Party (PKB).
Bonie and Diedy are backed by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), while Ismet and Mahfudz are running as independent candidates.
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