The 2018 Riau gubernatorial election took place on 27 June 2018 as part of the simultaneous local elections. It was held to elect the governor of

Riau Riau is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the central eastern coast of Sumatra along the Strait of Malacca. The province shares land borders with North Sumatra to the northwest, West Sumatra to the west, and Jambi to the south. Accord ...

along with their deputy, whilst members of the provincial council (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah) will be re-elected in 2019. Four pairs of candidates contested the election, including incumbent governor Arsyadjuliandi Rachman. Other candidates are

Firdaus In Islam, Jannah ( ar, جَنّة, janna, pl. ''jannāt'',lit. "paradise, garden", is the final abode of the righteous. According to one count, the word appears 147 times in the Quran. Belief in the afterlife is one of the six articles of f ...

, mayor of the province's capital

Pekanbaru Pekanbaru is the capital of Indonesian province of Riau, and a major economic center on the eastern part of Sumatra, Sumatra Island. Its name is derived from the Malay language, Malay words for 'new market' ('pekan' is market and 'baru' is new). ...

, DPR member and former cabinet minister Muhammad Lukman Edy, and

Siak Regency Siak ( Jawi: ), is a regency (''kabupaten'') of Riau Province, on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. It has an area of 8,556.09 km² and had a population of 376,742 at the 2010 Census and 457,940 at the 2020 Census, comprising 236,494 male an ...

regent

Syamsuar Syamsuar (born 8 June 1954) is an Indonesian politician who is the Governor of Riau. He has served in the post since 2019, and had previously served as Regent of Siak Regency between 2011 and 2019. Early life Syamsuar was born on 8 June 1954 in t ...

. After winning 38.2 percent of the votes, Syamsuar would defeat the incumbent and become governor for the 2018-2023 period.

Timeline

Indonesian local elections 2018 - voting in Pekanbaru cropped

Registration for party-backed candidates were opened between 8 and 10 January 2018, while independent candidates were required to register between 22 and 26 November 2017. The candidates were assigned their ballot numbers on 13 February 2018. The campaigning period would commence between 15 February and 24 June, with a three-day

election silence Election silence, blackout period, pre-election silence, electoral silence, or campaign silence is a ban on political campaigning or media coverage of a general election, before or during that election. Operation In some jurisdictions, such as Sl ...

before voting on 27 June. In April 2018, KPU declared that there were 3,622,488 eligible voters for the election.

Candidates

Under regulations, candidates are required to secure the support of a political party or a coalition thereof comprising at least 20 percent of the seats in the regional house. Alternatively, independent candidates may run provided they are capable of securing support from 8.5 percent of the total voter population (333,119 voters) in form of photocopied ID cards subject to verification by the local committee although no candidates expressing interest managed to do this. Syamsuar, having won elections in

twice, was approved by PAN to run in the gubernatorial election despite himself being a member of

Golkar ) , foundation = , youth = AMPG (Golkar Party Young Force) , women = KPPG (Golkar Party Women's Corps) , newspaper = '' Suara Karya'' (1971–2016) , headquarters = Jakarta , ideology ...

. After securing the support of

Nasdem ) , political_position = Centre to centre-left , national = Onward Indonesia Coalition , international = Progressive AllianceNetwork of Social Democracy in Asia (SOCDEM) , website www.nasdem.id, BallNo = 5 , ...

and PKS, he was eligible to run with 13 seats in the provincial council. His running mate Edi Nasution is a

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

in the

Indonesian Army The Indonesian Army ( id, Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Darat (TNI-AD), ) is the land branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It has an estimated strength of 300,000 active personnel. The history of the Indonesian Army has its ...

, who was stationed at

. Muhammad Lukman Edy had previously ran twice for governor - in 2008 and 2013 - and lost in both occasions. In addition to being member of DPR and holding a deputy chair post at MPR, he was the chairman of PKB's Riau office, and secured the support of his party to run. His running mate Hardianto is a member of Riau's provincial council, and the pair secured just enough seats in it to run (7 from PKB, 6 from Gerindra). Also with 13 seats in the council,

mayor

ran for governorship. The supporting parties are his own ( Demokrat, with 9 seats) and PPP (4 seats). His running mate, Rusli Effendi, is a PPP member who had served 10 years in the provincial council. Incumbent Arsyadjuliandi Rachman (who was made governor following the arrest of his predecessor by the

Corruption Eradication Commission Corruption Eradication Commission ( id, Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi), abbreviated as KPK, is an Indonesian government agency established to prevent and fight corruption in the country. Firli Bahuri, an active police general, is the current cha ...

in 2014) managed to secure the support of

Golkar ) , foundation = , youth = AMPG (Golkar Party Young Force) , women = KPPG (Golkar Party Women's Corps) , newspaper = '' Suara Karya'' (1971–2016) , headquarters = Jakarta , ideology ...

PDI-P The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle ( id, Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan, PDI-P) is an Indonesian political party, and the party of the current President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. The PDI-P was founded and is currently led by Me ...

and

Hanura The People's Conscience Party ( id, Partai Hati Nurani Rakyat), better known by its abbreviation, Hanura, is a political party in Indonesia. It was established following a meeting in Jakarta on 13–14 December 2006 and first headed by former Ind ...

. His running mate Suyatno was the regent of

Rokan Hilir Rokan Hilir ("Lower Rokan") is a regency (''kabupaten'') of Riau Province, on Sumatra island, Indonesia. It occupies the lower part of the catchment area of the Rokan River, and has an area of 8,851.59 km2. It had a population of 553,216 at ...

Polling

Results

Quick count

References

{{Indonesian local elections, 2018 2018 Indonesian gubernatorial elections Riau