From ballot box to final results<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The long process of counting 124.7 million
\nballots will begin this afternoon, only hours after election
\ncommittees from the capital's center to the remotest island close
\ntheir ballot stations.<\/p>\n
This is all part of the "festival of democracy" in the world's
\nfourth most populous country, and the seventh general election
\nsince independence in 1945.<\/p>\n
Citizens who are married or at least 17 years of age are
\neligible to vote, but the government will not let political
\nprisoners or people serving at least five years in jail vote.<\/p>\n
All 305,219 polling stations will open at 8 a.m. and close at
\n2 p.m. local times.<\/p>\n
The 1.8 million eligible voters overseas may vote at embassies
\nbetween 8 p.m. and 2 p.m. at the respective local times.<\/p>\n
Today is not a public holiday despite millions having to stop
\nwork to vote. Millions of people will vote at polling stations
\nnear their schools, universities and places of work.<\/p>\n
Today's vote is the climax of 12 months of preparation to
\ndecide who will occupy 425 of the 500 seats in the House of
\nRepresentatives. The government has approved 1,803 legislative
\ncandidates fielded by three parties.<\/p>\n
General elections have been a five-yearly routine since 1977.
\nThe country's first two elections were held in 1955 and 1971.<\/p>\n
Political laws introduced in 1973 restricted participation in
\nelections to only three parties: Golkar which has been in power
\nsince 1971; the United Development Party (PPP) which has a Moslem
\norientation; and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) which grew
\nout of an alliance of Christian-nationalist parties.<\/p>\n
The election follows "direct, free and confidential"
\nprinciples. No one is allowed to vote by proxy.<\/p>\n
After registering at polling stations by swapping their voting
\nnotifications for ballot papers, people will proceed to private
\nbooths to vote.<\/p>\n
Besides the officials in charge of registration and voting,
\nthere will be three official scrutineers, one from each party, at
\nevery polling station. Elections committees may pick volunteers
\nto scrutinize voting procedures on behalf of parties which fail
\nto provide their own scrutineers.<\/p>\n
Voters will punch holes in the symbol of one of the three
\nparties on three separate ballot papers, to chose representatives
\nat each of the country's three levels of legislature. The three
\nballot papers must then be placed in three different boxes,
\nreflecting the three tiers of legislature. This system applies in
\nevery province except Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Ballots for the House of Representatives will be cast in
\nyellow boxes. Ballots for provincial legislative councils will be
\ncast in white boxes. And ballots for local councils will be cast
\nin blue boxes.<\/p>\n
People in Jakarta will only vote for the House and the
\nprovincial legislative council.<\/p>\n
Symbol<\/p>\n
Each ballot paper shows three symbols -- one for each of the
\nthree parties -- under the numbers one to three. The PPP is
\nnumber one with a five-pointed star, Golkar is number two with a
\nbanyan tree and the PDI is number three with a bull's head.<\/p>\n
Ballot counting will start at 2 p.m. at each of the polling
\nstations. The officer in charge of each station will supervise
\nthe counting under the watchful eyes of the three scrutineers.
\nResults of the counting will be written on large boards so that
\neverybody at the stations can monitor it.<\/p>\n
After finishing counting, elections committees and scrutineers
\nwill sign seven copies of reports on the number of votes for each
\nof the parties, the number of void ballots and any complaints
\nlodged by scrutineers or voters.<\/p>\n
Despite these precautions, reports will be considered valid
\nwithout scrutineers' signatures.<\/p>\n
Scrutineers will not receive copies of the reports, denying
\nthe parties any chance to sue the National Elections Committee
\nover cheating allegations.<\/p>\n
Both the PPP and PDI have repeatedly complained of
\nirregularities during ballot counting at past elections, and have
\ntried in vain to change the election rules.<\/p>\n
Independent researcher Alexander Irwan published a book in
\n1995 which said that 1,000 irregularities occurred in the 1992
\nelection, 510 of them at polling stations.<\/p>\n
Political scientist Syamsuddin Harris said elections under the
\nNew Order government were open to cheating because the
\nbureaucracy acted as the election organizer and Golkar's patron.<\/p>\n
Members of national and neighborhood elections committees are
\nall bureaucrats and therefore Golkar functionaries.<\/p>\n
The Coordinating Agency for Election Communication Systems
\nwill oversee the couriers who deliver ballot boxes from polling
\nstations to subdistrict offices.<\/p>\n
Poll results from the country's 3,903 subdistricts will be
\ntransmitted to 305 regencies using an Armed Forces' radio
\nnetwork.<\/p>\n
The state telecommunications company PT Telkom will then
\ntakeover the transmission of election results to the National
\nElections Committee's office. Telkom will be backed up by the
\nArmed Forces and local government telecommunication's networks.<\/p>\n
Only the National Elections Committee and five government
\nofficials will have access to the database compiling the election
\nresults.<\/p>\n
The officials are President Soeharto, Vice President Try
\nSutrisno, Armed Forces chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung, Minister of
\nHome Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. and Minister of Information
\nHarmoko.<\/p>\n
Harmoko is also Golkar's chairman. Yogie is chairman of the
\nGeneral Elections Institute and the National Elections Committee.<\/p>\n
Preliminary results from counting in the 27 provinces will be
\nbroadcast by state television station TVRI from 7 p.m. tonight.
\nUpdates will be broadcast hourly for several days, before the
\ngovernment announces the final result on June 17.<\/p>\n
Golkar, the unanimous winner of the last five elections, is
\nsetting its sights on gaining at least 70 percent of the vote.
\n(amd)<\/p>",
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