REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has called on Indonesians to elect the best leaders. He also urged the people to maintain unity, despite choice differences in the regional election head elections (pilkada).

"Let us elect the best leaders in districts, cities, and provinces. Choices could be different, but we remain brothers. Have nice elections!, Jokowi tweeted on its account @jokowi on Wednesday.

As a big nation, Indonesia is still facing a bigger challenge in the future, and it could be addressed only through national unity. "I invite every component of the Indonesian nation to unite despite differences in our political choices," Jokowi remarked on its Facebook fan page.

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A total of 514 pairs of candidates competed in the third pilkada held in 171 regions across the country on June 27. Of the total candidates, 84 percent were supported by political parties and 16.6 percent from individuals. Of the total, 153 candidates were civil servants, 13 were military/police, and 500 were from the private sector.

Over 152 million Indonesians were expected to go to polls to elect 17 governors, 39 mayors, and 115 district heads for the 2018-2023 term during the simultaneous pilkada.

Based on the data of the General Elections Commission, the total number of eligible voters for the 2018 pilkada was 152,067,680, comprising some 76 million female and 75 million male voters.

The 17 provinces holding pilkada were East Java, Central Java, West Java, East Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, South Sumatra, Riau, Maluku, Bali, Southeast Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, North Sumatra, Papua, North Maluku, and Lampung.

Indonesia had organized the first and second simultaneous pilkada peacefully in 2015 and 2017, respectively. The KPU estimated that the turnover to have reached 70 percent.

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