Golkar back in power at House<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The General Elections Commission (KPU) announced on Wednesday the
\nresults of the legislative election, with former president
\nSoeharto's Golkar Party returning to power in the House of
\nRepresentatives with 128 of 550 seats.<\/p>\n
The victory was a reversal of fortune for Golkar, which lost
\nto the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in the
\n1999 elections, the first time it had been out of power since
\n1970.<\/p>\n
Megawati Soekarnoputri's PDI-P finished behind Golkar with 109
\nseats, down from the 153 seats it won in 1999. The United
\nDevelopment Party (PPP) won 58 seats to finish third, similar to
\nits showing in the 1999 elections.<\/p>\n
However, the election results, announced during a plenary
\nsession of the KPU, were signed by only 10 of the 24 parties that
\ncontested the polls.<\/p>\n
Those parties that signed the results were the PPP, the United
\nDemocratic Nationhood Party (PPDK), the Democratic Party, the
\nNational Mandate Party (PAN), the Concern for the Nation
\nFunctional Party (PKPB), the PDI-P, the Prosperous Peace Party
\n(PDS), the Pancasila Patriots' Party and Golkar.<\/p>\n
An alliance of 14 parties refused to accept the results, with
\nsome parties filing lawsuits with the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, National Awakening Party (PKB) patron
\nAbdurrahman \"Gus Dur\" Wahid, Freedom Bull National Party (PNBK)
\nleader Eros Djarot, Marhaenisme Indonesian National Party (PNI)
\nleader Sukmawati Soekarnoputri arrived at KPU's headquarters to
\nannounce that they would not accept the election result.<\/p>\n
Gus Dur said the amount of questionable practices surrounding
\nthe vote made it impossible for the legislative election to be
\nconsidered legitimate.<\/p>\n
\"The dirty practices in the 2004 elections will only result in
\nan illegitimate government,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The upstart Democratic Party, with presidential candidate Gen.
\n(ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as its main vote getter, finished
\nthe elections in fourth position with 57 seats, followed by the
\nPKB with 52 seats (51 seats in 1999).<\/p>\n
The National Mandate Party also won 52 seats, an increase from
\nits 34 seats in the 1999 elections, followed by the Prosperous
\nJustice Party (PKS) with 45 seats, a dramatic increase from the
\nseven seats in won in 1999.<\/p>\n
Golkar received 24,480,757 votes, followed by the PDI-P with
\n21,026,629 votes, the PKB with 11,998,564, the PPP with
\n9,248,764, the Democratic Party with 8,455,255, the PKS with
\n8,325,020 votes and PAN with 7,303,324 votes.<\/p>\n
The PPP and the Democratic Party won more seats in the House
\nthan the PKB despite receiving fewer votes because most of the
\nPKB's votes were concentrated in the East and Central Java
\nelectoral districts.<\/p>\n
PAN also obtained more seats in the House than the PKS despite
\nreceiving fewer votes.<\/p>\n
Of 148,000,369 registered voters, 124,420,339 people (84.06
\npercent) cast ballots in the April 5 elections. There were
\n113,462,414 valid ballots (76.66 percent) and 10,957,925 invalid
\nballots (8.81 percent).<\/p>\n
In the 1999 elections, out of 118,217,393 registered voters,
\n105,786,630 people cast valid ballots and 3,641,546 invalid
\nballots.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin said not all of
\nthose political parties rejecting the poll results had filed
\ncomplaints with the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n
\"So far, we have been notified of only four cases that will be
\nbrought to the Constitutional Court,\" he said. \"Those cases refer
\nto North Sumatra electoral district 2, the Riau islands, Papua
\nand West Irian Jaya.\"<\/p>\n
He said parties that refused to sign the election results
\nwould be barred from registering presidential and vice
\npresidential candidates from June 6 to June 12.<\/p>\n
The Prosperous Peace Party (PDS), the Freedom Bull National
\nParty and the Democratic Party became the first parties to
\nchallenge the election results in court when they filed a
\ncomplaint with the Constitutional Court on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
PDS representatives filed a complaint against the General
\nElections Commission for allegedly annulling the party's votes in
\nfive electoral districts without sufficient evidence.<\/p>\n
\"It is about the right we have to protect,\" said Abraham
\nLarobu, who heads the PDS branch in West Jakarta. The complaint
\nwas signed by the party's executive board.<\/p>\n
Oka Mahendra, the secretary-general of the court, said the
\ncourt would remain open 24 hours a day until 2 p.m. on Saturday
\nto register complaints by political parties and Regional
\nRepresentative Council candidates over the election results.<\/p>",
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