Abstentions could reach 30%: Expert

Abstentions could reach 30%: Expert

The Jakarta Post, Malang, East Java

The level of abstentions in the runoff presidential election on
Sept. 20 could reach a staggering 30 percent of registered
voters, a scholar has predicted.

Political analyst from Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University
Ichlasul Amal said on Saturday people who would not vote in the
runoff election were those who had seen their choices lose in the
first round of polling on July 5.

"It has already been predicted that the turnout will be low in
the runoff, given that presidential candidates who failed in the
first round of elections have a large number of supporters," Amal
said on the sidelines of a seminar held by state Brawijaya
University.

Amal estimated that over 20 percent of registered voters did
not vote in the July 5 poll.

He said that the figure could increase if formal leaders of
the largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), failed to
persuade former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, the
organization's influential patron, to abandon his abstention
stance.

Gus Dur publicly announced his poll boycott after the General
Elections Commission disqualified him as a presidential
candidate.

Amal said that, although voters would only choose between two
presidential tickets, the candidates would have a hard time
wooing voters if losing candidates in the first round of the
election continued to rue their failure.

According to the provisional vote count by the General
Elections Commission (KPU), the three presidential tickets
that face elimination -- Wiranto-Solahuddin Wahid, Amien Rais-
Siswono Yudohusodo and Hamzah Haz-Agum Gumelar -- garnered over
39 percent of the vote, or over 41 million supporters.

The KPU registered over 155 million voters nationwide.

The two tickets that would likely enter the runoff, Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono-Jusuf Kalla and incumbent president, Megawati
Soekarnoputri-Hasyim Muzadi respectively gained 33 percent and 26
percent of the vote.

The KPU will announce contenders for the runoff election on
July 26.

Last week, leaders of several Islamic organizations openly
announced their intention to abstain in the runoff election.

Analysts said the move was prompted by disillusionment at
seeing their candidates lose in the July 5 poll.

Earlier, several student organizations pledged that they would
not vote in the elections.