Out-of-towner Joko “Jokowi” Widodo finished first in Wednesday’s Jakarta gubernatorial election and will face incumbent Governor Fauzi Bowo in a runoff on Sept. 20, according to a number of quick counts by several pollsters.
A quick count by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) showed that Jokowi — who is the incumbent mayor of Surakarta, Central Java — garnered 42.74 percent of the votes, followed by Fauzi with 33.57 percent.
Kompas daily’s quick count results said that Jokowi gathered 42.59 percent of votes, while Fauzi racked up 34.32 percent. Another quick count, released by Indo Barometer, said Jokowi won 42.24 percent and Fauzi 33.77 percent.
Unlike other regions, the capital city requires candidates to secure more than 50 percent of votes
to win the election. The Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta) will announce the official election result either on July 19 or 20.
Previous surveys predicted that Jokowi and Fauzi would be the candidates to square off in a second round of voting, but with the latter securing first place with a result far above the other five contenders.
LSI executive director Burhanuddin Muhtadi said that the surprise outcome, in which the out-of-towner surpassed the incumbent, was the result of a combination of factors.
“Clearly Jokowi was able to attract voters from outside his party’s constituents. This shows that elite politicians do not wield strong influence,” Burhanuddin said.
Jokowi and running mate Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama are supported by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the third largest faction at the City Council with 11 seats out of the 94 seats, and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) with six seats.
A senior LSI researcher, Saiful Mujani, argued that the media had allowed Jokowi an advantage by framing him as a mayor with good achievements and leadership skills.
“Surprisingly, Jokowi also managed to attract Muslim voters. Non-Muslims are already attracted to Jokowi because his running mate, Basuki, is a Christian.”
Fauzi, unlike Jokowi, had been one of the candidates with the least public appearances. He had been largely absent in public debates against other candidates. Fauzi had also decided to not use his time to meet supporters during the official period, relegating the task to running mate Nachrowi.
Late on Wednesday, Jokowi said he planned to seek more support for the runoff.
The candidates said that they had made an informal agreement to forge a coalition against the incumbent should the election go into a second round. But not a single candidate talked about such a deal on Wednesday.
Hidayat Nur Wahid, who is backed by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said that he would let his party decide if it would endorse Jokowi in the run-off. Separately, Fauzi had refused to comment on his strategy to win the runoff. “The runoff is not yet official. We will discuss this matter internally and we will take all necessary steps to win the election,” Fauzi said.
South Sumatra Governor Alex Noerdin admitted he was on the losing side in the election, pointing to the fact that results released by various quick counts would not deviate much from the election’s actual outcome.
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