Opposition parties take early lead<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Approximately 100 million Indonesians went on
\nMonday to the milestone polls which proceeded mainly peacefully,
\nwith Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of
\nStruggle (PDI Perjuangan) snatching an early lead.<\/p>\n
In many parts of the country balloting -- managed by
\ninexperienced and sometimes impromptu poll officials -- and vote
\ncounting proceeded at a painfully slow pace. By midnight Monday
\nonly a small percentage of the votes had reached the tabulation
\nprocessing computers of the General Elections Commission.<\/p>\n
As of 00:15 a.m. western Indonesian time, total votes counted
\nfor House of Representatives were 24,735. PDI Perjuangan led with
\n18,141 votes, followed by distant second runner National
\nAwakening Party (7,117), Golkar Party (5,820), United Development
\nParty (3,668) and National Mandate Party with 1,014 votes.<\/p>\n
The Indonesians voted for representatives at three levels: the
\nHouse of Representatives (DPR), the provincial assemblies (DPRD
\nI) and regency assemblies (DPRD II).<\/p>\n
People were to choose 462 legislators from at least 10,500
\ncandidates from 48 political parties to represent them at the
\n500-member House of Representatives. The remaining 38 seats have
\nbeen allocated to the military whose members do no vote.<\/p>\n
Relatively minor incidents took place in Tangerang, West Java,
\nwhere dozens of people set a polling booth and ballot box ablaze.
\nElection officials said would-be voters got angry when they were
\nprevented from voting because they had not registered.<\/p>\n
In Surabaya, East Java, seven students were injured when
\ntroops charged a group of protesters demanding a fair election.<\/p>\n
Witnesses said about 120 students from local universities were
\nmarching to the local election commission office when troops
\nattacked them with batons, kicked them and chased them away on
\nmotorcycles.<\/p>\n
\"Seven students were injured, while the rest ran away (to a
\nuniversity),\" one told Reuters.<\/p>\n
In many other parts of the country, glitches were reported
\nmostly from the unavailability of materials, mistakes in
\nprocedures, and also invalid ballot sheets because of pre-punched
\nholes. In some cases, voting was either delayed or would have to
\nbe repeated.<\/p>\n
In East Java, for instance, voting will have to be repeated in
\ntwo regencies of Ponorogo and Madiun because 300 voters there
\nwere made to sign their ballot sheets by poll officials.<\/p>\n
The same incident took place in Tanjung Priok district in
\nNorth Jakarta where 30 voters were found to have written their
\nnames on ballot sheets. General Elections Commission chairman
\nRudini then ordered poll officials to repeat the entire balloting
\nprocess.<\/p>\n
The poll ran mostly safe in Maluku province where hundreds
\nhave died and from where tens of thousands have fled following
\ncommunal clashes since January.<\/p>\n
However, the election in a number of villages in Maluku
\nprovince had to be delayed and will take place on a later date,
\naccording to Lutfi Sanaki, head of the provincial election
\ncommittee. As of Monday ballot papers had yet to arrive in the
\ndistricts of East Seram, and South Buru in Central Maluku
\nregency. Lutfi blamed the delay on difficulties in transportation
\nto the remote villages.<\/p>\n
In Purwokerto, Central Java, as of 8 p.m. many polling
\nstations had not completed tallying, which residents blamed on
\nthe slow work of committee members. Witnesses also looked passive
\nand did not remind voters to check their ballot papers for any
\npossible faults.<\/p>\n
In Banyumas, also Central Java, committee officials scrambled
\nfor more ballot papers when 1,380 voters who worked outside the
\nregency came in 35 buses from Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung and
\ncities in Sumatra. Voters are allowed to vote wherever they are
\nliving but many like to vote in their hometowns. Not all polling
\nstations could accommodate them.<\/p>\n
In Jayapura, Irian Jaya, the spokesman of the provincial
\nelection committee FX Suryanto said as of 10 p.m., results of
\ntallying had not come in from any of the 13 regencies including
\nJayapura itself.<\/p>\n
From Yogyakarta poll watchers grouped in the Gadjah Mada
\nUniversity (KPP UGM) reported attempts to buy votes from a number
\nof political parties, known by the local phrase \"dawn attack\"
\nafter typical attempts in the early morning hours.<\/p>\n
For instance in the Pengasih village in Kulon Progo regency,
\npeople were given Rp 20,000 each or 2 kilograms of rice to make
\nthem vote for the Golkar Party. In other places targets were
\neither women or elderly people.<\/p>\n
In Padang, West Sumatra, inferior ink and lack of ballot
\npapers was among complaints across the regions. In the Sungai
\nBeremas subdistrict, Bungus district, there were only 64 ballot
\npapers for to 814 voters. The poll was delayed to 3 p.m.<\/p>\n
At the M. Djamil hospital, visiting patients' relatives could
\nnot vote although they had registered as there were only enough
\nballot papers for patients.<\/p>\n
During ballot counting, PAN led votes in a number of polling
\nplaces, followed by Golkar and PDI Perjuangan.<\/p>\n
In Palu, Central Sulawesi, residents in Donggala regency
\ndemanded that village head Ibrahim Yabi of Bangga village step
\ndown because of various allegations of abuse of power. To enable
\na smooth poll the village secretary was appointed caretaker.
\nResidents until Sunday night were reluctant in building polling
\nplaces and only joined in last minute preparations following the
\nabove decision by the Dolo district head.<\/p>\n
Golkar and PDI Perjuangan were close contenders in West Nusa
\nTenggara apart from PPP.<\/p>\n
From Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, it was reported the poll
\ncontinued in one polling place in Tamaumaung subdistrict while
\nthere were no ballot papers for the regional legislative body.<\/p>\n
There were also polling places in Jeneponto and Pangkep
\nregencies where tallying continued despite many ballot papers
\nlacking stamps. In the Libureng district, poll security guards
\nchased observers away with machetes, charging them with leaning
\ntoward a certain party.<\/p>\n
In the Medan Area district in Medan, North Sumatra, mostly
\nChinese Indonesian residents found their ballot papers had been
\ngiven names and numbers. People protested but the poll continued.
\nSecretary-General of North Sumatra's Independent Election
\nMonitoring Committee Effendi Panjaitan said this posed fears
\namong Chinese Indonesians here and could lead to manipulation of
\nvotes.<\/p>\n
In Boyolali, Central Java, almost all of 106 settlers from the
\nKedungombo Dam project came to vote.<\/p>\n
\"We have agreed to vote in the hopes that new leaders can
\nsolve our 11-year-old problem,\" a resident, Darsono, said in the
\nKedungpring hamlet in the Kedungrejo village, Kemusu district.<\/p>\n
In Central Java town of Surakarta, residents of Karanganyar
\nreported circulars threatening unrest if Golkar lost. (team)<\/p>",
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