Incumbent Syaukani Hasan Rais, affiliated with Suharto's Golkar Party, participated in the direct elections and secured over 60 percent of total votes, comfortably gaining his second term.

According to the electoral commission, difficult geographical conditions highly affected the cost of logistics.

[6] In total, there were over 375,000 eligible voters voting in 1,397 polling stations across 212 villages in the regency's 18 subdistricts.

[4] A quick count was released by Pokja 30, a local organization, supported by the US-based National Democratic Institute.

[9] Syaukani Hasan Rais was the incumbent and first leader of the regency, although his term expired in December 2004 and his post was occupied by an acting regent from the Ministry of Home Affairs.