Voters want change in government<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Though the vote count from Monday's legislative election is still
\nin the early stages, the gains of two new parties indicate the
\ndesire for serious political reform, according to observers.<\/p>\n
Officials had counted a little over two million of an expected
\n148 million votes by Tuesday evening, but these early figures,
\nplus an exit poll conducted on Monday by the Institute for Social
\nand Economic Research, Education and Information (LP3ES),
\nindicate strong gains by the Democratic Party and the Prosperous
\nJustice Party (PKS).<\/p>\n
By Tuesday evening, official figures had both parties with
\nabout 12 percent each of the votes tallied.<\/p>\n
The results indicate that people are distancing themselves
\nfrom the older, established political parties, the institute
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
However, in Monday's exit poll in LP3ES, Golkar was the
\nprojected winner with 22.7 percent of the vote, followed by the
\nIndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) with 18.8
\npercent.<\/p>\n
The institute's projections were made from direct observations
\nof 1,416 of almost 60,000 polling stations across the country,
\nand by talking to 289,052 voters from 32 provinces.<\/p>\n
LP3ES researcher Rustam Ibrahim noted that many people said
\nthey voted for the Democratic Party so that it could pass the 3
\npercent threshold that would allow the party's cofounder, former
\nsecurity minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to run in the
\ncountry's first direct presidential election.<\/p>\n
Among those voting for the Democratic Party likely were
\ndisillusioned PDI-P supporters, he said.<\/p>\n
The institute predicted that 8 percent of the total votes
\nobtained by the PDI-P in the 1999 elections would move to the
\nDemocratic Party, while 4 percent of the PDI-P's votes would go
\nto Golkar.<\/p>\n
The LP3ES said the votes gained by the PKS likely came from
\nthose who now preferred it to other Islamic-oriented parties.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the National Democratic Institute for International
\nAffairs' Indonesia director, Paul Roland, said the votes gained
\nby new parties would influence the composition of the legislature
\nas well as the voting in the July 5 presidential election.<\/p>",
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