27 June 2018•Update: 27 June 2018
JAKARTA
Voting ended in Indonesia for the third simultaneous local elections on Wednesday.
Citizens cast their votes from 7 a.m. till 1 p.m. local time (0000GMT to 0600GMT) in ballot boxes set up in 171 regions.
The nation voted to elect 17 state governors, 39 municipalities and 115 district heads.
The General Election Commission (KPU) had said that they expected a 77-percent voter turnout in the polls, with more than 152 million registered voters.
According to KPU, a total of 14 parties participated in the elections, including the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the United Development Party (PPP), the National Democratic Party (NasDem) and Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party.
West Java, Central Java, East Java, North Sumatra and South Sulawesi are among the largest and the most important states for the governor elections.
Interestingly, most of the candidates, who are racing under their own party or independently, participate as co-candidates for more than one party in order to receive more support.
Between 1945 and 1998, all regional administrative directors were appointed by the central administration.
In 1999, when the second President Muhammad Suharto’s term ended, local parliaments elected regional administrators.
Indonesians cast votes in local elections for the first time in 2005.
The first simultaneous elections including more than one state were conducted in 2015, with nine states.
The second simultaneous elections, including seven states, were held in April last year.
With the decision taken in 2015, the Indonesian government is planning to hold the first local elections including 34 states in 2027.
Reporting by Mahmut Atanur:Writing by Sena Guler
