Meet Risma's Would-Be Challengers: A Pair of Cows
Jakarta. With a two-year postponement in the election for mayor in Surabaya looming after the only rival to the incumbent withdrew his bid, residents turned up at the local polling commission hoping to register two pairs of cows to run in December’s ballot.
“If no other candidates register, we will register these two cows,” Afrizaldi, the coordinator of the stunt, told Kompas. “Even cows have the guts to run for office, so why don’t political parties do the same?”
The cows' bid was not registered by polling officials.
Popular Mayor Tri Rismaharini, backed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), remains the sole candidate in the upcoming election as of Tuesday afternoon, with the deadline coming later in the evening.
Under the law on regional elections, no election may be allowed to proceed with only one candidate running. In Surabaya’s case, that means the election would have to be delayed to 2017.
The Democratic Party and the National Mandate Party (PAN) are considering sharing a ticket featuring Dhimam Abror and running mate Haries Purwoko.
Haries came to the Surabaya office of the General Elections Commission (KPU) office last week, during the first extension period for registration, to state the pair's intention to run – only to leave moments later without notice, leaving confused polling officials searching for him. Since then, neither Haries nor Dhimam has returned to submit the necessary documents.
Afrizaldi, who claimed not to be acting on behalf of Risma’s campaign, said Risma’s opponents might be deliberately trying to sabotage the election to deny the mayor a bid at re-election. If the election is postponed, Risma will have to step down at the end of her term at the end of this year and a caretaker mayor will be appointed.
“There is a deliberate bid to foil the mayoral election in Surabaya,” Afrizaldi told Tempo.
PAN deputy chairman Taufik Kurniawan denied that Dhimam and Haries were deliberately stalling the election. “No one is sabotaging anything,” he said, adding that Haries’s sudden disappearance from the KPU office last week was “a regrettable act.”
Afrizaldi’s group appeared to agree, parading their cows across town draped in banners that read “Don’t be a sissy” and “Fight political sabotage.”
Dhimam and Haries recently reiterated that they were serious about running, but a disappointed PAN announced on Tuesday that it was dumping Haries and naming former bureaucrat Rasiyo to run with Dhimam.
Dhimam and Rasiyo held a press conference at 2 p.m. on Tuesday saying the pair would register their bid later on Tuesday.
Tags: Keywords: