Appreciation must be given to the people who voted in the concurrent elections in 101 regions across Indonesia.
The people\'s votes and the political maturity they have shown must be respected and followed by the political elite, the candidate pairs and success teams. Peace needs to be maintained so that the elections can continue into the next phase, counting, which is being carried out in stages by the General Elections Commission (KPU) to determine the regional heads-elect.
We are grateful that the concurrent elections in 101 regions across Indonesia have so far run smoothly and peacefully. Thanks, of course, must be given to the election organizers (the KPU and the Election Supervisory Agency [Bawaslu]), the National Police and Indonesian Military (TNI), as well as the volunteers who monitored the vote counting process. Of course, there have been complaints that a number of voters could not exercise their voting rights. The classic problems, of course, should be a record for the election organizers so they do not deprive the people of their political rights.
Specifically for Jakarta, in line with predictions by a number of institutions conducting quick counts, including Kompas Research and Development, the Jakarta regional elections will have two rounds, the second of which will be held on April 19. The two pairs of candidates competing in the second round will be the incumbent pair of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat and Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno.
The special area of the capital city of Jakarta is specifically regulated by Article 11 of Law No. 29/2007, which requires the winning candidate to gain at least 50 percent of the votes plus one. The regulation in Jakarta is different from other regions in Indonesia. The KPU is the institution with the authority to announce the official results of the regional elections.
Now that the people have voted, all parties must wait for the official announcements of the election results from the KPU. There is no need to claim victory or make excessive victory speeches to maintain the peaceful situation. Also there should be no prolonged sadness in response to election results as this is the will of the people. The success of the elections is the people\'s victory. Commotion will only disrupt the economy.
Any objection to the vote count can be conveyed in the vote count forums. Disputes over the regional election results must be resolved through existing constitutional mechanisms, namely the Constitutional Court. Despite all the problems surrounding the institution, it is the Constitutional Court that will decide the final results in the case of any dispute over the results. We hope the constitutional mechanism will be used to settle any election disputes and not the other way around!