Govt to help PDI in House representation<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Concerned by the Indonesian Democratic Party's
\n(PDI) poor showing in last week's general election, the
\ngovernment decided yesterday to help the party.<\/p>\n
\"We are looking at ways to help PDI obtain an appropriate
\nrepresentation in the House of Representatives,\" Elections
\nSupervision Committee Deputy Chairman Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid told
\nreporters after a committee meeting yesterday.<\/p>\n
Syarwan, who is also the Armed Forces chief for sociopolitical
\naffairs, said there were ways to help the PDI increase its House
\nmembership. When asked whether there were rules for such action,
\nhe said that in the past elections, there had always been
\nprogress in the way problems were handled.<\/p>\n
He said Golkar chairman Harmoko's recent offer to give PDI
\nsome of its votes should be considered as a way to help increase
\nPDI's seats in the House.<\/p>\n
PDI rejected the offer but Syarwan insisted that that was a
\nmisperception.<\/p>\n
\"I can understand how the PDI feels about its election
\nachievement,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, General Elections Committee Secretary-
\nGeneral Suryatna Subrata said that transferring votes to a
\ndefeated party could not be considered as there had not been any
\nagreement on this before the election.<\/p>\n
With ballot-counting nearing its end, it is clear that PDI has
\nsuffered a massive defeat, securing only 10 House seats for its
\n744 legislative candidates, while Golkar won 325 seats and the
\nUnited Development Party (PPP) 90 seats. This is the worst ever
\nperformance by the Nationalist-Christian alliance, whose
\npopularity peaked in 1992 when it won 56 seats.<\/p>\n
The results mean that the party's government-backed chairman
\nSoerjadi, who topped the PDI candidate list for Jakarta, and his
\nsecretary-general Buttu R. Hutapea, ranked third for North
\nSumatra, will have to quit the House in September.<\/p>\n
Syarwan also expressed satisfaction over the poll turnout. The
\nnumber of people who did not vote was relatively small, he said.<\/p>\n
\"It shows that people's political awareness remains high,\" he
\ntold reporters. \"Most Indonesians want change through
\nconstitutional political means.\"<\/p>\n
Chairman of the General Elections Institute Moch. Yogie S.M.
\ndenied the elections was unsuccessful as some people have
\ncharged.<\/p>\n
\"People thronged the polling booths to cast their votes. This
\nshows that their trust in the three contestants is even higher
\nthan in previous elections,\" said Yogie, who is also minister of
\nhome affairs.<\/p>\n
He said there was no reason for any political contestants to
\nshun the remaining election stages.<\/p>\n
There were 124,740,987 registered voters. Provisionally,
\n112,161,955 votes were counted by the general elections
\ncommittee.<\/p>\n
The final poll results will be sealed on June 23. The other
\ntwo remaining election stages are the establishment of the
\nlegislative memberships, which is June 13 for the regional
\ncouncils, June 17 for provincial councils and June 24 for the
\nHouse of Representatives.<\/p>\n
Asked about the request by PPP and PDI to have the election
\nrerun, both Yogie and Syarwan said repeat voting could only be
\nheld at polling stations which experienced \"problems\" during the
\nactual election.<\/p>\n
Both PPP and PDI cried foul against the government as the
\nelection organizer. Syarwan said the government would soon
\nrespond to the complaints from the three political contestants.<\/p>\n
\"The election supervision committee will hold a meeting
\ntomorrow (Friday) to discuss the contestants' protests,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Singgih, the chairman of the Election Supervision Committee,
\ndenied yesterday the allegations that the body had discriminated
\nagainst PPP and PDI.<\/p>\n
\"All the political contestants are represented on the Election
\nSupervision Committee,\" he said. (imn)<\/p>",
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