ASIA/INDONESIA - Elections in Jakarta, Christian candidate defeated

Jakarta (Agenzia Fides) - While the vote count is underway, all the projections made on the basis of polling stations already counted in the runoff election ballot for the election of the new governor of Jakarta attribute a wide margin victory to candidate Anies Baswedan (in the photo), former Indonesian Minister for education. Incumbent Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, Protestant Christian of Chinese origin, who had prevailed in the first round of regional elections, despite the campaign of sectarian propaganda unleashed against him and the trial for alleged "blasphemy" seems to have been resoundingly defeated.
Archbishop Ignatius Suharyo, at the head of the Catholic Archdiocese of Jakarta, in his Easter message, referring to the forthcoming elections, had not made explicit references to extremist religious groups, but quoting some Indonesian Muslim leaders had repeated that Islam is a religion of peace and rejects violence. The Archbishop had invited the people to exercise their right in a peaceful manner, had called the fight against corruption as a priority and thanked the government for its efforts to ensure the peaceful conduct of the voting process.
Indonesian Catholic analysts, contacted by Fides news agency, believe that the profile of the new governor of Jakarta, away from extreme positions, represents a guarantee and may help to calm down the tensions that characterized the election campaign. (PP/GV) (Agenzia Fides 19/04/2017)

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