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Politics

Candidates mark peaceful end to Jakarta election campaign

A divisive and tense gubernatorial election campaign ends with a whimper rather than a bang

Audience members take phone snaps of the candidates onstage during the final gubernatorial election debate on Feb. 10 in Jakarta (Photo by Simon Roughneen)

JAKARTA -- A tumultuous election campaign for the job of running one of the world's biggest, most traffic-clogged and flood-prone cities drew to a relatively placid close over the final weekend before the Feb. 15 vote.

Candidates in the race for the Jakarta governorship ended a last televised debate by grinning cheek-to-cheek in a group selfie photograph. As staged as it was, it was a rare cordial moment in a combative campaign. It came the day before Islamist groups held a last-ditch rally against the sitting governor, who they accuse of blasphemy.

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