All the way with SBY: Landslide predicted<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono looks set to win the first ever direct
\npresidential election in a landslide, with analysts saying the
\nresult underlined the people's loss of confidence in the
\npolitical elite grouped under the Nationhood Coalition.<\/p>\n
The likelihood of Susilo's rival Megawati Sukarnoputri turning
\nthe table is becoming increasingly remote. The General Elections
\nCommission (KPU) electronic vote tally as of 9 p.m. Tuesday
\nshowed Susilo was maintaining his share of 60.7 percent of the
\nvote, ahead of Megawati by more than 20 percent, with 87 million
\nvotes, or more up to three-quarters of the likely final total,
\ncounted.<\/p>\n
Megawati was trailing in almost all the country's 32
\nprovinces, including in the traditional strongholds of her
\nIndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).<\/p>\n
In Central Java, Susilo led the race with 51.6 percent of the
\nvote, against Megawati's 48.3 percent, while in North Sumatra,
\nMegawati was trailing Susilo by 12.7 percent.<\/p>\n
Megawati led only in two provinces: Bali and East Nusa
\nTenggara.<\/p>\n
Political analyst J. Kristiadi of the Centre for Strategic and
\nInternational Studies (CSIS) said Megawati's defeat could have
\nbeen predicted even before she declared her reelection bid.<\/p>\n
\"It's been a foregone conclusion, Megawati has achieved
\nvirtually nothing during her three years in office. To worsen her
\nstature, a number of policies produced by her party have drawn
\nire from PDI-P members,\" he told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the likely next president, Susilo, kept out of
\npublic view on Tuesday. After presiding over a meeting with
\nrunning mate Jusuf Kalla and campaign team members, including
\nparty leaders who supported his presidential bid, Susilo spent
\nmost of the day at his residence in the suburb of Cikeas near
\nBogor, West Java.<\/p>\n
After the meeting Kalla called on officials and security
\nforces to guard the ballot boxes heading to regional election
\ncommissions for the manual count.<\/p>\n
The KPU will announce the official result after the manual
\ncount is finished on Oct. 5.<\/p>\n
Susilo's landslide victory was predicted by the Institute of
\nResearch, Education and Information of Social and Economic
\nAffairs (LP3ES) late on Monday after they completed their \"quick
\ncount\" survey. It said Susilo would finish with a staggering 60.2
\npercent of the vote, ahead of Megawati whose vote would not
\nexceed 39.8 percent.<\/p>\n
\"This is the final result of our quick count, as we have
\ncompleted collecting data from 1,942 polling stations,\" LP3ES
\nresearcher Muhammad Husain said. The poll has a small margin of
\nerror and has been accurate in previous elections this year.<\/p>\n
The institute expected to collect data from 2,000 selected
\npolling stations, but stopped the vote aggregation after
\nsurveying only 1,942 after learning that no significant changes
\nin the figure would be produced.<\/p>\n
An exit poll from LP3ES released shortly after the quick count
\nwent further in shedding a light as to where votes for Susilo
\ncame from and why Megawati has faltered in the runoff.<\/p>\n
The exit poll revealed the Nationhood Coalition, consisting of
\nthe PDI-P, the Golkar Party and several minor parties had failed
\nto boost Megawati's performance, with Golkar supporters deserting
\nthe party in droves to vote for Susilo.<\/p>\n
\"Only 24 percent of voters who voted for Golkar in the April
\nlegislative elections cast their votes for Megawati. The figure
\nfor the Reform Star Party (PBR) is 31 percent. The rest went to
\nSusilo,\" a report on the survey says.<\/p>\n
LP3ES researcher Andy Agung Priatna said the exit poll result
\nindicated that apart from being rational, voters were independent
\nand unaffected by moves made by the political elite.<\/p>\n
Susilo also won support from members of the two largest Muslim
\norganizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah. Sixty percent of
\nNU members and 68 percent of Muhammadiyah supporters voted for
\nSusilo, according to the poll.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Megawati's imminent defeat in the poll has already
\nsparked violence among her supporters.<\/p>\n
In Denpasar, police arrested two people who were accused of
\ndisrupting public order following the relatively peaceful
\nelection on Monday.<\/p>\n
The two men, Megawati supporters Gung Amir and a Jakartan,
\nIvanxsius, were taken into police custody for burning tires in
\nKuta to protest at Megawati's likely rout on Monday.<\/p>\n
Police said the fiery protest had caused concern among Kuta
\nresidents.<\/p>\n
In Yogyakarta, the local elections commission (KPUD) held
\nanother ballot on Tuesday at a polling station in the Mergangsan
\nsubdistrict.<\/p>\n
The rerun was organized following complaints by election
\nobservers from the Susilo-Kalla campaign team, who protested the
\nearly end to the balloting on Monday. Tallies from the repeat
\npoll showed Susilo had secured 106 votes against Megawati's 68.<\/p>",
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