Govt drops proposal to increase PDI seats<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): After three weeks of controversy, the government
\nhas given up trying to increase the number of Indonesian
\nDemocratic Party (PDI) seats in the House of Representatives
\nafter the three parties failed to reach a consensus.<\/p>\n
The General Elections Committee's deputy secretary-general,
\nWalujo, said yesterday the decision was made because of the
\nUnited Development Party's (PPP) strong opposition to the
\nproposed transfer of votes to the PDI.<\/p>\n
"There is no other reason for considering the proposal,"
\nWalujo said at the elections committee's office.<\/p>\n
He said the counting of excess votes would be done according
\nto electoral regulations.<\/p>\n
The committee's decision contradicted Minister\/State Secretary
\nMoerdiono's statement Thursday that the PDI and PPP should put
\nnational interests before their own and retract earlier refusals
\nto allow vote trading among the parties.<\/p>\n
"Increasing the PDI's number of seats in the House is needed
\nto sustain the country's political process," Moerdiono had told
\nreporters.<\/p>\n
The PPP and PDI have rejected the proposed vote tradeoff.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the PPP reiterated its opposition to the proposal
\nto grant Golkar's excess votes to the PDI.<\/p>\n
"We decided in a meeting (Wednesday) that post-election vote
\ngrants are unacceptable," PPP secretary-general Tosari Wijaya
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The proposal to give the PDI excess votes from Golkar and PPP
\ncame from Golkar's chairman, Harmoko.<\/p>\n
Provisional results of the May 29 election show that Golkar
\nhas won 325 seats in the House, PPP 89 and PDI 10 after the
\ncalculation of 115 million ballots.<\/p>\n
Walujo said the elections committee could understand the PPP's
\ndecision to reject the proposal.<\/p>\n
"The PPP must have had their own reasons, which we have to
\nrespect," he said.<\/p>\n
He said that officials from the General Elections Committee
\nhad visited and held discussion with PPP executives. However,
\n"such good intention (behind the visit) will not always end up
\nwith good results."<\/p>\n
In a related development, a dozen Golkar supporters
\ndemonstrated at the House yesterday over their leaders' plan to
\ngive votes to PDI.<\/p>\n
"We voted for a certain party during the election, not for
\nanother one.<\/p>\n
"Vote offering obviously violates the ethics of democracy
\nbecause people's faith in the party is manipulated by the elite,
\nnot to mention the government's role in the negotiations," said a
\nstatement by the demonstrators read by their leader, Syarif
\nBastaman.<\/p>\n
According to the 1985 Election Law, vote-trading deals must be
\nmade public before the announcement of legislative candidates.<\/p>\n
The demonstrators said they doubted that people who won seats
\nthrough vote trading would represent the people.<\/p>\n
"Instead, they will serve as the mouthpiece of the party which
\nhelped them (enter the House)," the statement said.<\/p>\n
The demonstrators lashed out at the vote-trading plan for
\nharming the House's dignity by reducing its capacity to function
\nas an elite representative body.<\/p>\n
Another group of Golkar supporters lodged protests over the
\nproposal with Golkar's central executive board and the elections
\ncommittee.<\/p>\n
"The vote tradeoff will violate people's sovereign rights and
\nthe electoral law," said the group's statement read by lawyer
\nR.O. Tambunan.<\/p>\n
Tambunan said the group would file a lawsuit against Golkar's
\ncentral board and the elections committee if the plan went ahead.<\/p>\n
The House's internal regulations imply that a party must have
\nat least 13 legislators to have at least one representative in
\nthe House's leadership, a party faction leader and a
\nrepresentative in each of the House's 11 commissions.<\/p>\n
Ministry of Home Affairs spokesman H.S.A. Yusacc said
\nyesterday that PDI had gained an additional seat in the House
\nafter it had made significant gains in the final stages of ballot
\ncounting, gaining 64,269 votes for a total of 395,583 votes in
\nNorth Sumatra.<\/p>\n
Officials results on this, however, are yet to be released.<\/p>\n
The additional votes mean that Fatimah Achmad, listed second
\non the PDI candidate list for North Sumatra, will join the
\nparty's lineup of 11 House members.<\/p>\n
She was among a small group of PDI executives who initiated a
\ngovernment-backed rebel party congress in Medan last June that
\ntoppled PDI chief Megawati Soekarnoputri, and replaced her with
\nSoerjadi. (imn\/amd\/05)<\/p>\n
Editorial -- Page 4<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-drops-proposal-to-increase-pdi-seats-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }