LSI: Jakarta Gubernatorial Polls Will last Two Rounds

Jakarta, July 12 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) has predicted that the 2012 Jakarta gubernatorial elections will run for two rounds and that there may not be any absolute victory in the first round which took place on Wednesday. The LSI communication director Burhanudin Muhtadi further prophesized that Fauzi Bowo-Nachrowi Ramli and Joko Widodo-Basuki Tjahaja Purnama pairs will vie for the seats during the second round of polls that will take place in September. "I think with around 80 percent of the vote samples (checked by the quick count system) in, the results can be predicted. There will be no absolute winner now, meaning that the polls will run into two rounds," he said here on Wednesday (July 11). According to Muhtadi, the Solo mayor Joko Widodo, also popularly known as Jokowi, will vie for the seat with the incumbent due to his success in developing the Central Java city of Solo. It`s surprising that the number of votes obtained by the Jokowi-Basuki Purnama (Ahok) pair surpassed those of the Fauzi Bowo-Nahrowi Ramli pair, Muhtadi said. "The number of vote samples received by the LSI till 6.45pm reached 99.76 percent, of which Jokowi-Ahok grabbed 42.74 percent of votes. This was markedly higher than those collected by the Fauzi Bowo-Nahrowi Ramli pair at 33.57 percent," he cited. Meanwhile, Hidayat Nur Wahid-Didik J Rachbini pair grabbed 11.96 percent, Faisal Basri-Biem Benjamin another 4.94 percent, Alex Noerdin-Nono Sampono about 4.74 percent, and Hendardji Soepandji-Ahmad Riza Patria 2.05 percent of the votes. In processing the votes count, LSI applied the method of Stratified-Clustered Random Sampling with a one percent margin of error, Muhtadi noted. The vote samples were taken in 410 polling stations (TPS) from a total of 15,059 TPS in Jakarta, he added.