Election for Jakarta governor enters second round

As expected, the gubernatorial election in the Jakarta Special Capital Region on Wednesday entered the second round after none of the three pairs of candidates for governor and vice-governor secured more than 50 per cent of the votes.

Political analysts had anticipated that the election would go into the second round due to the three-cornered contest - among incumbent Basuki Thahaja Purnama, Anies Baswedan and Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, and their running mates for vice-governor.

Basuki secured 44.17 per cent of the votes; Anies, 39.55 per cent and Agus, 16.27 per cent. The second round of contest, to be held in April, will now be between Basuki and Anies.

However, the official result will only be announced in two weeks.

The election rule requires a candidate to secure more than 50 per cent of the total number of votes to be appointed the provincial chief executive.

Basuki, popularly known as Ahok, thanked the voters and said he was prepared for the second round of voting and would face any eventuality.

Anies said he would have a discussion on cooperation with Agus who has been eliminated from the elections.

Agus said he accepted the defeat with an open heart and wished the other two candidates all the best in the forthcoming elections.

Almost 42 million people in seven provinces voted to elect various levels of people's representatives to serve for a period of five years.

They voted to elect governors and vice-governors for seven provinces, mayors and deputy mayors for 18 cities, and 101 district officers.

A total of 310 pairs of candidates - 241 from political parties and 69 independents - contested the elections in the seven provinces, namely Aceh, Bangka Belitung, Jakarta Special Capital Region, Banten, Gorontalo, West Sulawesi and West Papua.

The elections are seen as a prelude to the Indonesian general election in 2020. -- Bernama