Candidates stay cool ahead of election results
Candidates stay cool ahead of election results
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta
The two presidential election front-runners appear set to take
their success in their stride, while supporters of the candidates
who are likely to be eliminated from the race say they have no
special plans for when the General Elections Commission (KPU)
announces the results of the July 5 election on Monday.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will remain at his residence in
Cikeas, Bogor, West Java, on Monday, while Megawati Soekarnoputri
will have a busy day at either the State Palace or her official
residence on Jl. Teuku Umar in Menteng, Central Jakarta.
"Bapak is always calm, even now while waiting for the results
of the July 5 election," an aide to Susilo told The Jakarta Post
on Sunday.
The four-star retired Army general is planning to meet the
press at around 12:30 a.m. after the official announcement of the
qualifiers for the runoff election on Sept. 20.
Susilo, who is also the former coordinating minister for
political and security affairs, is leading the provisional tally,
followed by incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
As off 10:30 p.m., with at least 96,356,976 votes, or around
90 percent, of the some 118 million votes counted from 30
provinces, the Susilo-Jusuf Kalla ticket had won 32,567,910
votes, or 33.6 percent.
The Megawati-Hasyim Muzadi ticket was in second place with
26,367,159 votes or 27.4 percent.
The Wiranto-Solahuddin Wahid ticket was on 20,899,766 votes,
or 21.7 percent, the Amien Rais-Siswono Yudohusodo ticket
13,811,087, or 14.3 percent, and the Hamzah Haz-Agum Gumelar
ticket 2,711,053 votes, or just 2.7 percent.
Less than 15 million remaining votes from two provinces, West
Java and West Irian Jaya, were still being counted by the KPU.
The results of the manual tabulation of votes from the six
provinces of East Java, Banten, East Nusa Tenggara, Central and
East Kalimantan, and South Sulawesi were still problematic as the
campaign teams of both Wiranto and Amien were refusing to endorse
them.
Megawati will have a hectic schedule, including chairing a
limited Cabinet meeting.
"Ibu will either be at the Palace or her official residence on
Jl. Teuku Umar when the announcement is made. We will issue a
press release soon after the official announcement is made by the
KPU," Pramono Anung Wibowo, the deputy secretary-general of
Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), told
the Post.
Two other tickets -- Wiranto-Solahuddin of the Golkar Party
and Amien Rais-Siswono of the National Mandate Party (PAN) appear
to be unwilling to go quietly, however, and are refusing to sign
the results of the manual count. The two pairings are currently
in third and fourth places respectively, according to the manual
count.
As of Sunday, neither Wiranto nor Amien had planned anything
special to mark the announcement of the election results by the
KPU on Monday.
Members of the Hamzah Haz-Agum Gumelar camp, which garnered
only 3 percent of the vote according to the provisional count,
also admitted they had nothing special planned for Monday, saying
that Hamzah, the current Vice President, would be at work in his
office when the results were announced.
Meanwhile, talks among politicians on the forging of
coalitions ahead of the runoff election continued with Golkar
Party leader Akbar Tandjung saying that a coalition with Megawati
was more feasible than one with Susilo.
"It is feasible in the sense that they (the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle) could build a strong government if
they received the support of the Golkar Party," Akbar was quoted
as saying by Antara over the weekend.
He further said that he had discussed the possibility of a
coalition with Megawati and also with Kalla. Megawati has also
clearly stated that she was seeking Golkar support.
Golkar came first in the April 5 legislative election with 128
seats in the House of Representatives (DPR), compared to the PDI-
P's 109 seats.