Former military man takes lead in Palu

Ruslan Sangadji

Retired major general Bandjela Paliudju has maintained his lead over the three other candidates in the Central Sulawesi gubernatorial election, according to the provisional vote count, confirming the public's preference for a leader from a military rather than a civilian background in the conflict-torn province.

In the latest results released Tuesday by the Central Sulawesi Election Commission, Bandjela, who is also a former Central Sulawesi governor, had garnered 266,263 votes out of a total of 1.4 million registered voters. Final results are expected within a week.

He was closely followed by Rully Lamadjido with 241,399 votes and Aminuddin Ponulele, the current governor and Golkar Party chairman in the province, who was earlier touted as the front-runner in the election, on 175,188 votes. Another candidate, Jusuf Paddong, had only received 34,778 votes.

In Monday's election, Bandjela -- the former leader of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's presidential election campaign committee in the province -- did not stand for the Democratic Party. Instead, he was nominated by a coalition of parties, including the National Mandate Party (PAN), Crescent Star Party (PBB) and the National Awakening Party (PKB).

The provisional results surprised many considering the low turnouts for Bandjela's campaign stops, compared to the thousands who attended the campaign events of the other candidates, who regularly brought in popular national and local celebrities and politicians, including legislators Adjie Massaid and Angelina Sondakh.

Bandjela, who served as the province's governor from 1995 to 2000, opted for market visits and door-to-door campaigning instead of holding large rallies.

His campaign slogans, like "Vote for me if you want security", and his military background, according to political observer Christian Tindjabate of Tadulako University, proved attractive to voters tired of living in constant fear of violence.

"The people tend to no longer believe in civilian leaders," Christian said.

Similar distrust, he said, had emerged after president Soeharto stepped down and the country suddenly found itself plagued by violence and disasters, leading many people to think "the reform era is no better than the New Order. Back then, we were not free to talk but we could still go everywhere freely".

The province has been regularly rocked by bombings and killings, with the latest incident occurring on New Year's Eve when a bomb exploded in a Christian market killing seven people and injuring 56 others.

Although the vote count is continuing, with more votes still to come in from the villages, Bandjela and his running mate Achmad Yahya, head of the local branch of telecommunications firm PT Telkom, feel that victory is virtually certain, especially as the election commission has thus far found no evidence of significant vote-rigging.

On Monday night, the houses of the two contestants were flooded with visitors offering congratulations. Bandjela has also organized prayers to celebrate victory.

But the other candidates are not ready to concede defeat just yet, with Rully Lamadjido expressing regret over what he claimed was the election commission's "poor performance". He also said he would mount a court challenge if he found electoral violations.

Governor Aminuddin Ponulele, however, accepted likely defeat in good cheer. "I can't say anything yet. But one thing for sure, this is a democratic process that we must accept."