"Today, I am casting my vote in my hometown. This is Ploso Village where I lived when I was a teenager," the sixth president of Indonesia said here on Wednesday.
Yudhoyono, popularly known by his initials as SBY, said the current election was his first to vote in his hometown since the first direct presidential election was introduced in 2004.
For the last four presidential elections in 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019, SBY had cast his vote at a polling station near his residence in Cikeas, Bogor District, West Java.
He said that the ongoing development of the SBY*ANI Museum and Gallery Pacitan was another factor behind his decision to vote in Pacitan.
SBY and his entourage arrived at Polling Station No. 16 at 9:15 a.m. local time (UTC +7) and were welcomed by Pacitan District Head Indrata Nur Bayuaji and other regional officials.
The former president was accompanied by youngest son and Democratic Party executive Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono and daughter-in-law Siti Rubby Aliya Rajasa while casting his vote in the polling station.
His arrival drew the interest of other voters and residents, who took turns to shake hands with the former president.
After casting his vote, SBY expressed relief that Election Day had arrived. He also expressed hope that the election process would proceed safely and peacefully until the final stage.
"If any (election) participants want to complain, we already have its mechanism and regulations according to the law. Hence, the people as well as me hope security, order, and peace will be maintained," the former president stated.
More than 204 million Indonesian voters cast their vote on February 14 to elect the president and vice president, members of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), Regional Representatives Council (DPD), and regional legislatures (DPRD) at the provincial, city, and district levels.
The three candidate pairs vying for the national leadership in this year's election are Anies Baswedan and Muhaimin Iskandar as candidate number one; Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka as candidate number two; and Ganjar Pranowo and Mahfud MD as candidate number three.
According to KPU Regulation No. 3 of 2022, the nationwide vote recapitulation for the 2024 Election is scheduled to take place from February 15 to March 20, 2024.
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Translator: Destyan Sujarwoko, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Tia Mutiasari
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