REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SEMARANG -- Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo has called on all those candidates who lost in the regional elections on Wednesday to have a big heart and accept defeat in line with the President's directives.

"Those who have won as well as those who have lost must now have a big heart. This is democracy," he said after observing the implementation of the simultaneous elections in several voting locations in Semarang, Central Java, on Wednesday.

He said the elections were conducted based on regulations and if these went off smoothly without any instances of cheating, then all the candidates should be able to accept the results.

He said the simultaneous elections in the country, from the western most region in Sabang (Sumatra) to the easternmost part in Merauke (Papua), were conducted in an atmosphere that was conducive, thanks to the anticipatory measures taken by the security agencies.

He also thanked the General Election Commission (KPU) and the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) which worked hard to ensure the smooth conduct of the elections.

"The crucial point in the regional election process is the nomination of candidates and counting of votes. So far, these have all gone well," he said.

The government's decision to declare December 9 as a national holiday led to an increase in the number of people who participated in the elections, Tjahjo said.

He said although in general the elections went off well, certain cases of "money politics" were reported nevertheless.

He said the fact that such cases were reported from almost all the regions was proof that the phenomenon had to be dealt with seriously.

Regarding public participation, he said that it increased even as no conflict or disruption happened in 264 regions where elections were conducted.

The minister said two stages that need to be closely supervised were vote counting and confirmation of the winner. "These two stages are prone to conflict and therefore must be supervised closely," he said during an inspection in Tangerang Selatan, Banten province.

He said the conduct of simultaneous elections this time would be evaluated in order to ensure that the elections in 2019 are also organized properly, including national elections as well as elections of provincial governors, city mayors and district heads, all of which would be carried out simultaneously.

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