By SAMIAJI BINTANG*)
BANDA ACEH (12/12) — SIX hours after the polls closed, dozens of local and foreign journalists gathered around Irwandi Yusuf. Monday (11/12) became a day that he will never forget, as he and members of the Aceh Independent Movement (GAM) celebrated the Irwandi win.
With Muhammad Nazar as his deputy candidate, Irwandi defeated seven others who competed in this Aceh gubernatorial election. Lingkaran Survei Indonesia (LSI) and Jaringan Isu Publik announced that based on their quick count, from 331 sample districts out of 8,471 polling stations, Irwandi and Nazar received 39.27 percent of the votes, while his closest rival, Ahmad Humam and Hasbi Abdullah, who had the official support from the Sweden-based Prime Minister of GAM, Malik Mahmud, received 16.17 percent.
“With an error margin of plus-minus 2 percent, we are very confident of our methods and our results. The percentage could be changed, but not the rank. First-ranked is Irwandi-Nazar and second-ranked is Humam-Hasbi,” said Denny JA, executive director of LSI. (more…)
