Under regulations, only political parties having 15 seats or more in the regional parliament (DPRD) can put forward a candidate.

[citation needed] Money politics is a problem that has marred the democratic process in Indonesia ever since the transition to democracy.

There have been many cases of candidates giving money or other incentives to the electorate to influence their voting intention.

In the first round of this election, anti-corruption NGO, Indonesia Corruption Watch found at least 27 cases of money politics during the campaign.

Irregularities include double registrations, inclusion of deceased voters, fake names, or redundancy.

[14] Preliminary results released by several media after first round of elections showed Joko Widodo leading with 43% of votes, followed by Fauzi Bowo with 33%, Hidayat Nur Wahid with 11%, Faisal Basri with 5%, Alex Noerdin with 4%, and Hendarji Supanji with 2%.

The result shocked many pollsters, as most have predicted Governor Fauzi to win the election in a landslide and without having to go for a runoff.