As Jokowi, Fauzi Gear-Up Their Campaigns, Runoff Date Made Official

Ronna Nirmala, Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Ismira Lutfia & Ezra Sihite

The Jakarta General Elections Commission confirmed on Thursday that Joko Widodo was the top vote-getter in last week’s gubernatorial election and will face the incumbent, Fauzi Bowo, in a runoff in September.

In announcing the results, the elections commission, known as the KPUD, was simply making official what everyone already knew. Both Joko and Fauzi have been busy since last Wednesday’s election making the rounds of political parties, trying to secure support for the vote on Sept. 20.

The KPUD said Joko, who was backed by Megawati Sukarnoputri’s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) of Prabowo Subianto, received 1,847,157 votes, or 42.5 percent.

Fauzi, who ran with the support of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party, secured 1,476,648 votes, or 34.0 percent. A candidate would have had to receive more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff.

Hidayat Nur Wahid, the former People’s Consultative Assembly speaker who was backed by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), was a distant third with 508,113 votes (11.7 percent), followed by an independent candidate, economist Faisal Basri, with 215,935 votes (4.9 percent).

South Sumatra Governor Alex Noerdin finished fifth with 202,643 votes (4.6 percent), while another independent candidate, retired Army general Hendardji Soepandji, was next with 85,990 votes (1.9 percent).

Joko and Fauzi and their teams are busy wooing the four losing candidates as they try to lock up their support, and all those votes, for the September runoff. Given the size of the prize at stake, Jakarta, top officials from every major party are likely to be involved in picking a candidate.

Tifatul Sembiring, who was chairman of the PKS before he became communications minister, said in a recent interview that his party was still undecided over which candidate it would support in September’s second round.

“We have three options: we can support Jokowi, Foke or neither,” Tifatul said on Wednesday, referring to Joko and Fauzi by their nicknames.

The backing of the PKS, which has a solid political base in Jakarta, could be decisive in the runoff.

Tifatul confirmed that both campaigns had been in contact with the party and that they had held talks.

The United Development Party (PPP), which along with the Golkar Party had backed Noerdin in the first round, was more direct, saying a decision on who it would support would be made today.

“Now that the official results have been announced, it is likely that after Friday prayers the PPP will announce who we will support in the upcoming runoff vote,” the party’s secretary general, M. Romahurmuziy, said on Thursday.

Democratic Party lawmaker Herman Khaeron said his party remained firm in its support for Fauzi, and would soon get busy telling voters about what it called the governor’s many success during his first five-year term.

Golkar has already said it will not give an official endorsement to either Joko or Fauzi, and it is not clear if the two independent candidates, Faisal and Hendardji, will come out with official endorsements.

Gerindra lawmaker Martin Hutabarat said that with the success of Joko, who is the mayor of Solo, the party would look for similar partnerships during the 2014 legislative and presidential elections.

Jokowi was the top vote-getter in five municipalities: East Jakarta, West Jakarta, Central Jakarta, North Jakarta and South Jakarta. The only area he failed to carry was Thousand Islands district, where Fauzi received the most votes.

A total of 4,407,141 voters cast ballots in the election, according to the KPUD, out of 6,962,348 Jakarta residents earlier declared eligible to vote. A total of 4,336,486 valid ballots were cast.