Poll for Jakarta governor set to go to the wire, samples show

JAKARTA: The race to become governor of Indonesia’s capital was neck and neck in early counting yesterday and heading for a second round between the incumbent Christian governor and a Muslim former education minister, sample counts showed.

The Jakarta poll has been overshadowed by religious tensions, with mass Islamist-led protests against Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, an ethnic Chinese Christian.

Purnama had secured 42.57% of the votes, just ahead of former minister Anies Baswedan in second place with 40.23%, based on a quick sample count of about 40% of the vote by private polling firm SMRC.

A candidate needs to get more than 50% of the votes in the first round to win outright.

The job of governor can be a springboard to the presidency and weeks of campaigning have been overshadowed by mudslinging.

“We hope that everybody can return as a family after these elections,” President Joko Widodo said after voting in Jakarta yesterday.

Purnama was a deputy to Widodo when he was Jakarta governor and Widodo’s party is backing him.

Purnama has been campaigning while on trial on a charge of insulting the Qur’an, a case that has brought Muslims onto the streets, urging voters to shun a non-Muslim as leader.

He denies the charge and after dipping in opinion polls his support rebounded, which analysts attribute to his record of improving the bureaucracy and easing congestion and flooding in Jakarta.

Baswedan is backed by a former general who Widodo beat in the last presidential election, Prabowo Subianto.