Panca Nugraha and Yuli Tri Suwarni, Lombok, Bandung – Few residents of West Lombok regency, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), bothered to turn up to polling booths Monday to vote in the second round of the regent election, which was held simultaneously in 15 districts.
Despite the local election commission's (KPUD) early forecast of a 70% voter turn out in the first round, polling stations (TPS) were described as relatively "empty" Monday.
At TPS 3 in Taman Sari sub-district, Gunung Sari district, 115 out of the 445 listed voters had cast ballots an hour before it was scheduled to close at 1 p.m. A similar scene was reported at TPS 4 in Midang sub-district in the same district, with 118 of 380 registered voters casting ballots.
Others had errands to do. "People may have been fed up with voting, with the process for the gubernatorial election starting in July, then the regent election in October and now the regent election again," local figure Hamdan said. "They may just be thinking 'let the others do the voting'," he added.
Two pairs of candidates contesting Monday's election were Zaini Arony and running mate Mahrib, nominated by a coalition of parties, and independent candidates Lalu Sajim Sastrawan and running mate Munajib. The election cost the state Rp 4.75 billion (US$424,100).
Chairman of the West Lombok KPUD Hasanain Juaini said 537,335 eligible voters had registered for the second round, or 635 less than for the first round.
Hasanain also said the KPUD would not use a quick-count system to tally votes, but instead perform a manual count. The official results of the election will be announced Dec. 20.
In Bandung, West Java, tens of students and residents of Subang regency staged a rally to protest Governor Ahmad Heryawan's plan to swear in Subang Regent-elect Eep Hidayat despite alleged corruption charges leveled against him. Marching in front of the gubernatorial office at Gedung Sate building on Jl. Diponegoro, they said they refused to be led by a corrupt regent.
They further demanded the West Java provincial police and prosecutors' office monitor Eep's ongoing legal case being handled by the Purwakarta regional police and the Subang regency prosecutor's office.
Eep, who was Subang regent from 2004 to 2008 and reelected on Oct. 26, was named a suspect just two weeks after being reelected in a corruption case worth Rp 1.5 billion centering on a 2004 regional police project to import cows.
Three hours after declaring him a suspect, the prosecutor's office named him a suspect in another corruption case that saddled the state with Rp 2 billion in losses from 2005 to 2008.
At the same time, five teachers from Subang filed a law suit with the state administrative court against Eep for allegedly hand picking school headmasters in 2007 without any transparency.
Responding to the protest, Governor Heryawan said he would swear in Eep, adding that he was obliged to by law.
He said the law stipulated that a regional leader-elect could still be sworn in as long as they had not been convicted for criminal charges by a definitive court.
In Nabire, Papua, hundreds of people Monday sealed off 20 regency administration offices in protest against the possible postponement of the regency election.
Among the sealed off offices were those of the local KPUD and Nabire regent. Other offices were forced to cease activities. The overall situation in the regency, however, remained conducive despite the protest.
Protest coordinator Frans Magai said the protest had been held in response to information the Nabire election scheduled for Dec. 18 would be postponed until 2010 despite campaign activities starting 10 days prior. "We demand confirmation that the election will go on as scheduled," Frans said Monday.
Frans said the nine pairs of candidates contesting the election would suffer unbearable financial losses were the vote to be canceled.
The election, he went on, had been initially scheduled for Oct. 22, then rescheduled for Nov. 22 and then again for Dec. 4 before finally being set for Dec. 18. "What is the guarantee that it will finally be carried out if it is postponed again," Frans said.
[Angel Flassy contributed to the story from Nabire.]