PDI-P’s Pramono Anung wins Jakarta governor race; rivals challenge results claiming low turnout, election fraud

JAKARTA: The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)’s Mr Pramono Anung has emerged as Jakarta’s winning candidate in the city’s gubernatorial elections, securing a single-round victory over the presidential coalition’s pick.

The Jakarta Election Commission declared Mr Pramono as the winner over his key rival Mr Ridwan Kamil who is backed by President Prabowo Subianto’s Advance Indonesia Coalition or KIM Plus. 

Local media reported that Mr Pramono and his running mate Rano Karno won over 50.7 per cent or over 2.18 million votes, while Mr Ridwan Kamil and his running mate Suswono gained 39.4 per cent or 1.71 million votes.

Meanwhile, independent candidate Mr Dharma Pongrekun and his running mate Kun Wardana earned 10.53 per cent or 459.230 votes. 

“I hereby declare that the minutes of certification of vote recapitulation from each district and city in the election of governor and deputy governor of Jakarta are valid,” chairman of Jakarta General Elections Commission Wahyu Dinata confirmed to the media on Sunday (Dec 8). 

Mr Pramono, 61, was a former Cabinet Secretary and is backed by former president Megawati Soekarnoputri’s PDI-P as well as presidential candidate Mr Anies Baswedan, while Mr Ridwan, 53, is the former governor of West Java who is backed by Mr Prabowo and his predecessor Mr Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

PDI-P is also the country’s largest party in parliament and the only major party that has not joined Mr Prabowo’s coalition.

“We welcome (this result). This is a victory for the people of Jakarta,” the Pramono-Rano campaign manager Lies Hartono said at a press conference on Sunday.

“Thank you to all the loyal supporters, from the 0.01 per cent to the 50.07 per cent,” Mr Pramono posted on his Instagram on Sunday, following the announcement. 

Despite the single round victory, Jakarta Elections Commission’s Mr Wahyu clarified that this does not officially guarantee that Mr Pramono and Mr Rano will take on the governor and vice governor positions as it depends on election disputes raised at the Constitutional Court. 

“The new governor and vice governor will be inaugurated after the next phase of the election process, depending on whether there are lawsuits filed with the Constitutional Court,” he was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Globe. 

Losing candidates have from Dec 9 till Dec 11, or three days after the announcement of official election results to file an election dispute with the Constitutional Court.

OBJECTIONS FROM LOSING CANDIDATES 

Mr Ridwan’s team has begun assembling a legal team to file a challenge at the Constitutional Court, in hopes of a second round of voting, according to the Jakarta Post and local media platform Tempo. 

“In light of everything that happened, we will use our right to file (an election dispute) with the Constitutional Court in hopes of finding justice,” Mr Ramdan Alamsyah, Ridwan-Suswono’s team coordinator said to the media after the announcement of the results, as quoted by the Jakarta Post.

“We hope that there will be a second round of voting in Jakarta,” said the head of the campaign team, Ahmad Riza Patria at a press conference at Golkar’s office on Sunday. 

Mr Ridwan is part of the Golkar party, which is also part of Mr Prabowo’s coalition. 

Local media also reported that Mr Ramdan, along with other representatives from the Ridwan-Suswono campaign team, had stormed out of the announcement meeting on Sunday. 

Mr Ramdan expressed his disappointment over the historically low voter turnout, which he attributed to the local election body failing to distribute invitations to voters.

According to the Jakarta Post, the General Elections Commission (KPU) data showed that voter turnout for Jakarta’s gubernatorial elections was only 57.5 per cent, as only 4.72 million out of the 8.21 million registered voters cast a ballot. 

Mr Ramdan also said that his campaign team found indications of ballot tampering by election workers at a polling station in East Jakarta and expressed suspicions that there could be more instances of alleged election fraud that went unnoticed. 

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for independent candidate Mr Dharma’s team also raised concerns about ballot tampering and low voter turnout when asked to present any objections to KPU’s official results. 

“We consider the legitimacy of today’s (election results) to be unrepresentative of the public as a whole,” Mr Anthony James Harahap told the media on Sunday. 

All representatives of the Dharma-Kun camp also reportedly left the KPU announcement meeting, leaving behind only Pramono-Rano’s representatives present to sign the documents to certify the final results. 

The Jakarta Post noted that it is however uncertain that the Dharma-Kun camp will be contesting the results at the Constitutional Court. 

Commenting on the two losing camps’ objections, the commissioner of Jakarta’s KPU Doddy Wijaya said that 90 per cent of all election invitations had reached their intended recipients and his team stood by the accuracy of the final tally in the gubernatorial race, despite the low voter turnout. 

“We will wait for (each camp to exercise) their right to file a dispute at the court while we make (our own) preparations,” Mr Dody said on Sunday, as quoted by the Jakarta Post. 

Surveys had earlier shown Mr Pramono to have a slight lead over Mr Ridwan.

The Jakarta governor position is considered one of Indonesia’s most prestigious posts, with former president Jokowi and presidential hopeful Mr Anies previously occupying the position. 

Netizens and observers had earlier dubbed the Jakarta race to be a face-off between Jokowi and Mr Anies, with the two key political figures publicly supporting their respective candidates prior to the elections held on Nov 27. 

The city’s election is also regarded to be the most-watched, given its seat at the centre of the country’s politics and economy.