11 parties meet to discuss poll flaws, alliance

Tiarma Siboro and M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With no party likely to win an absolute majority of seats in the House of Representatives, rivalries between political parties have quickly turned into talks on coalitions ahead of the presidential election.

Dozens of figures from 11 political parties, including former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, presidential hopeful from Golkar, Wiranto, Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) secretary-general Anis Matta and National Mandate Party (PAN) executive Samuel Kotto, met in hotel in the heart of Jakarta on Thursday.

Asked if the gathering was part of efforts to ensure incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri's defeat, none of those present was willing to comment directly.

"You can draw that conclusion for yourselves," Wiranto said to the press.

PKS leader Hidayat Nurwahid and Democratic Party cofounder Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono were also expected at the meeting, but they did not show up. The two reportedly held a separate meeting.

The representatives of the 11 parties instead issued a joint statement criticizing the General Elections Commission (KPU) for its sloppy handling of many facets of the election, most notably ballot tabulation.

"The KPU's poor performance has denied many eligible voters their right to elect the leaders of their choice. Many were unable to vote because they were not on the list of voters," Gus Dur said.

A survey by the U.S.-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) based on exit polls at 2,000 voting stations revealed that Golkar would finish first with only 22.7 percent of the vote, with President Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) second with 18 percent. Other surveys published before the April 5 election came to a similar conclusion.

PDI-P, which as of Friday evening, had the narrowest of leads over Golkar with just under 21 percent with a third of the votes counted, said that it was willing to build a coalition with other political parties.

The party's secretary general Pramono Anung said that PDI-P was prepared to build a coalition with anyone, including the Democratic Party, whose founder Susilo resigned as the coordinating minister for political and security affairs after a rift with Megawati.

"But if the Democratic Party deems we are a competitor, then so be it." he was quoted by Agence-France Presse as saying.

Democratic Party chairman Budi Santoso responded to Pramono's call, saying his party was open to a coalition with those that it agreed with.

"We are willing to form a coalition with parties whose platforms are identical to ours," he said.

While denying that Thursday's meeting of 11 party leaders would lead to a coalition, PAN executive Samuel Kotto said rampant public speculation on possible alliances would distract people's attention from the poor organization of the legislative election.

"Such speculation will overshadow the real problem of poor preparation and administration of the polls, which do need addressing," he said.

"Political leaders of all stripes need to focus on saving this election first before discussing any coalitions. They have to join the people and press in monitoring the election results."

He said he suspected that serious irregularities, particularly vote rigging and data manipulation, were rampant in Monday's election.