Two rounds of a gubernatorial election were held in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

as part of the 2017 simultaneous elections on 15 February and 19 April 2017 to elect the

governor of Jakarta The Jakarta Special Capital Region is administratively equal to a province with special status as the capital of Indonesia. Instead of a mayor, the executive head of Jakarta is a governor. The governor of Jakarta is an elected politician who, alon ...

to a five-year term. Incumbent governor

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (, Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ''Chûng Van-ho̍k''; born 29 June 1966) is an Indonesian businessman, politician, and former governor of Jakarta. He is also known by his Hakka Chinese nickname Ahok (). He was the second minority gover ...

, popularly referred to as "Ahok", and his deputy

Djarot Saiful Hidayat Djarot Saiful Hidayat (born 6 July 1962) is an Indonesian politician who is currently a member of the People's Representative Council. He was the governor of Jakarta, in office between 15 June and 15 October 2017 after being acting governor since ...

were running for re-election to a second term. Basuki, who inherited his current position from his running mate

Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), popularly known as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the 7th and current president of Indonesia. Elected in July 2014, he was the first Indonesian president not to come from an elite ...

when he won the

2014 Indonesian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Indonesia on 9 July 2014, with former general Prabowo Subianto contesting the elections against the governor of Jakarta, Joko Widodo; incumbent president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was constitutionally barred ...

, would have become the first elected Chinese-Christian governor of Jakarta had he won. Under the constitution, if no candidate secured a majority of the votes, a runoff election would be held between the top two candidates. The results of quick counts in the first round indicated that Purnama led by a narrow 3–4% margin, and that a runoff would be held on 19 April. Quick counts for the 19 April runoff indicated that Anies Baswedan was elected as governor; Ahok concedes defeat hours after the polls closed. The official results of the election is Anies Baswedan - Sandiaga Uno 57.96% to Basuki Tjahaja Purnama - Djarot Saiful Hidayat 42.04% published by General Elections Commission (KPU) of Special Capital Region of Jakarta in May; however, unofficial tallies from the election commission showed that Baswedan won 58% to Ahok's 42%.

Candidates

Under regulations, only political parties having 22 seats or more in the regional parliament (DPRD) can put forward a candidate. Political parties with fewer seats can put forward a candidate only if they have acquired support from other political parties. Independent candidates are able to run if they have gathered at least 532,213 signatures from local residents, which will be verified by the local election committee. This election will be contested by three candidates together with their running mate.

Campaign and issues

Racism

A candidate and a member of a minority ethnic group, Basuki has become the subject of occasional racist comments. During the 2017 gubernatorial campaign, he was regularly targeted by ultra-conservatives and supporters of rival candidates for being of Chinese descent. Furthermore, Basuki's "double minority" background makes him a target of the hardliner

Islamic Defenders Front ) , formation = , dissolved = , () () , successor = Islamic Brotherhood Front (Unrecognized) , status = Banned , founder = Muhammad Rizieq Shihab , founding_location = Ciputat, So ...

(FPI). The group called for the revision of the Jakarta Charter constitution to remove some of the governor's responsibilities for government-affiliated Islamic organizations.

Allegations of Quran insult

On 27 September 2016, in a speech in front of citizens of

Thousand Islands The Thousand Islands (french: Mille-Îles) constitute a North American archipelago of 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada–US border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for abo ...

, Ahok noted that some citizens would not vote for him because they are being "deceived using Verse 51 of Al Maidah and variations of it," referring to a verse that some groups have cited as grounds to oppose him. The provincial government of Jakarta uploaded the video recording to YouTube in a channel which often feature Ahok's activities. Citizens and pundits criticized Ahok's statement, considering it an

insult An insult is an expression or statement (or sometimes behavior) which is disrespectful or scornful. Insults may be intentional or accidental. An insult may be factual, but at the same time pejorative, such as the word "inbred". Jocular exc ...

on the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

. The video became popular and Ahok was widely criticized in social media such as

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

and

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. A ''

Change.org Change.org is a worldwide nonprofit petition website, based in California, US, operated by the San Francisco-based company of the same name, which has over 400 million users and offers the public the ability to promote the petitions they care abo ...

'' petition criticising him gained tens of thousands of signatures.

Zakir Naik's visit to Indonesia

From 1 April to 10 April 2017, a controversial Indian preacher named

Zakir Naik Zakir Abdul Karim Naik (born 18 October 1965) is an Indian Islamic televangelist and public orator who focuses on comparative religion. He is the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) and the Peace TV Network. In 2 ...

came to Indonesia in preparation for a da'wah safari in several cities in Indonesia. On the evening of April 8, the Patriot Chandrabaga stadium in Bekasi, a suburb of Jakarta, was filled to its capacity of 20,000. Islamic preacher Dr. Zakir Naik, who is facing probes in India, was on the podium. He reiterated what Indonesia’s conservative Islamic groups that had been rallying for in the run-up to Jakarta’s gubernatorial elections on April 19, that Indonesians should elect only a Muslim leader. Indian Newspaper, ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' mentioned that there was a correlation with

's lecture in Indonesia which was broadcast via Youtube with the victory of Anies Baswedan who outperformed Basuki Cahaya Purnama occupying 58% of the vote in the Governor Election.

Pre-election surveys

First round

Second round

Table

, - bgcolor="#E9E9E9" align="center" ! colspan="2" rowspan="2" align="left" , Candidates ! rowspan="2" colspan="2" align="left" , Parties ! colspan="2" , 1st round ! colspan="2" , 2nd round , - bgcolor="#E9E9E9" align="center" ! width="75" , Votes ! width="30" , % ! width="75" , Votes ! width="30" , % , - , bgcolor="" , , align="left" ,

, align="left" , Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle , PDI-P , , % , , % , - , bgcolor="" , , align="left" , Anies Baswedan , align="left" ,

Gerindra The Gerindra Party (acronym for , ) is a political party in Indonesia. Formed in 2008, Gerindra serves as the political vehicle of former general Prabowo Subianto. It is presently the third-largest party in the House of Representatives, where it ...

, Gerindra , , % , , % , - , bgcolor="" , , align="left" ,

Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (born 10 August 1978), more commonly referred to as AHY, is an Indonesian politician and former army major who is currently serving as the leader of the Democratic Party of Indonesia. Previously, he worked as military ...

, align="left" , Demokrat , PD , , % , colspan="2" rowspan="2" bgcolor="#E9E9E9" , , - , colspan="8" bgcolor="#E9E9E9" , , - ! colspan="4" align="left" , Total ! ! 100% ! ! 100% , - , colspan="8" bgcolor="#E9E9E9" , , - , colspan="4" align="left" , Valid votes , , , % , , , % , - , colspan="4" align="left" , Spoilt and null votes , , , % , , , % , - , colspan="4" align="left" , Turnout , , , % , , , % , - , colspan="4" align="left" , Abstentions , , , % , , , % , - , colspan="4" align="left" , Registered voters , , bgcolor="#E9E9E9" , , , bgcolor="#E9E9E9" , , - , colspan="8" bgcolor="#E9E9E9" , , - , colspan="8" align="left" , Source
Electoral Commission of Jakarta (first round)

Electoral Commission of Jakarta (second round)
KOMPAS.com (second round)
->

References

{{portal, Indonesia 2017 elections in Indonesia Elections in Jakarta 2017 Indonesian gubernatorial elections 2010s in Jakarta February 2017 events in Indonesia April 2017 events in Indonesia