Jakarta gubernatorial candidate Pramono Anung (left) talking to his running mate Rano Karno during a press briefing in Cipete, South Jakarta, on Nov 28. - Antara
JAKARTA: The camp of candidate pair Pramono Anung and Rano Karno claimed a single-round victory in the Jakarta gubernatorial race, while their rival pair Ridwan Kamil-Suswono have yet to concede defeat and will wait for the final vote tabulation.
During a press briefing on Thursday (Nov 28) at noon in Jakarta, Pramono proclaimed his camp’s victory, citing a result of the real count from the Jakarta Elections Commission (KPU), as well as tallying of manual tabulation forms, known as the C1 forms, from polling stations across the city.
He claimed that the pair had won more than 50 per cent of the total valid votes from Wednesday’s election day with 2.18 million votes.
The figure is nearly 3,000 votes over the threshold needed to clinch the election in a single round of voting.
For the Jakarta gubernatorial race, a candidate must secure more than 50 per cent of the vote to win the election in a single-round of voting. If no candidate passes the 50-per cent threshold, the top two candidates will compete in a runoff.
“Thank God, with all gratitude, we can declare that the candidate with ballot No. 3 has won the Jakarta gubernatorial election in a single round,” Pramono said in a live-broadcast press briefing on Thursday.
A similar declaration was made on Wednesday evening by Aria Bima, a Pramono-Rano campaign team member and politician of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) that nominated the candidate pair in the Jakarta election.
At a press briefing on Wednesday evening, Pramono’s rival Ridwan, who was nominated by political parties of President Prabowo Subianto’s Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM), urged the public to wait for the official vote tabulation from the Jakarta Elections Commission (KPU).
“People of Jakarta, let’s continue to wait until the final and official decision. If there’s indeed a runoff, let’s communicate again. We’ll hear your aspirations,” said the former West Java governor.
“We’ll remain in high spirits and are committed to continue the [election] process earnestly and with integrity, so that whoever is elected has the legitimacy to lead Jakarta.”
Quick count results from credible pollsters showed Pramono-Rano led the race with around 49.4 to 50.1 per cent of total votes, followed by Ridwan-Suswono with around 40 per cent.
While the PDI-P-nominated candidate led in preliminary results, pollsters are divided over whether the pair would come out as winners in a single round or if the election would proceed to a runoff.
The Jakarta KPU is still conducting multi-tiered vote tabulation and is expected to announce the final tally by Dec 15. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
