Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Hundreds of residents angry with the results of the gubernatorial election in Papua on Friday attacked the General Elections Commission (KPUD) office in Puncak Jaya regency.
The residents pelted the office with stones and destroyed furniture on Saturday because the candidate they supported, Lukas Enembe, did not come out on top during the vote count at the KPUD office in the regency capital Kota Mulia.
"They accused the KPUD of miscounting the votes and then attacked the office. The residents refused to accept that other candidates also received some votes.
They wanted their candidate (Lukas) to win 100 percent of the votes," Papua Police spokesman Kartono S. told The Jakarta Post in Jayapura on Saturday.
Five pairs of candidates are contesting the gubernatorial election. They are Barnabas Suebu-Alexander Hessegem, who lead the provisional vote count in the province; Lukas Enembe-Arobi Ahmad Aituarauw; John Ibo-Pascalis Kossy; Constant Karma-Donatus Mote; and Dick Henk Wabiser-SP Inaury.
Some 1.4 million voters cast their ballots across the province on Friday. There was no information available on how many votes each candidates received from the 99,322 eligible voters in Puncak Jaya regency.
Kartono said about 150 residents were watching the vote count at the KPUD office when the altercation began. More residents rushed to the scene after hearing the warning shots fired by police to disperse the angry crowd. The police spokesman said the residents calmed down and dispersed only after additional officers and Lukas Enembe arrived at the scene.
He said police did not make any arrests. "We didn't arrest anybody because we are trying to keep the peace in Puncak Jaya," Kartono said.
The secretary of the KPUD in Papua, Hasjim Sangadji, told the Post on Saturday he had not received any official information on the attack in Puncak Jaya, but expressed regret over the incident.
"Blaming the KPUD is wrong. The voting was done by residents, so ask the residents why they voted for other candidates. This is a direct election, a democratic process, so it's natural that people vote for different candidates," Hasjim said.
He said democracy was a long process and it might take another generation before people were able to accept political differences.
The provisional vote count in the province as of 6 p.m. Saturday had Barnabas maintaining his lead from Friday night.
Barnabas, nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), had 111,154 votes, or 36.96 percent of the 305,691 ballots so far counted from 591 polling stations in 11 regencies.
There are 19 regencies in the province with a total of 2,455 polling stations.
Golkar's candidate, John Ibo, was in second with 78,195 votes or 25.56 percent of the ballots counted; Lukas Enembe was in third with 59,777 votes or 19.45 percent; Constant Karma in fourth with 29,740 votes or 9.7 percent; and Dick Henk Wabiser in last with 27,025 votes or 8.84 percent.