Double-perforation debacle overshadows election: EU

M. Taufiqurrahman and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta

The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM) expressed concern on Thursday over the double-perforation debacle, and recounts at many polling stations, which had overshadowed the peaceful election.

EU election monitoring team head Glyn Ford said the unintentional double-perforation of up to 40 million ballots in Monday's presidential election allowed for possible irregularities in the tallying process.

"We will be watching recounts carefully, through our long-term observers," he said in Jakarta.

Ford, also a member of the European parliament, said that although the General Elections Commission (KPU) had resolved the problem by issuing an instruction to validate ballots that had dual perforations, the new ruling was not clear.

However, Ford said, technical problems did not taint the integrity of the country's first direct presidential election, adding that he perceived pluralistic competition between rival candidates.

"The peaceful campaign period and polling day are to be praised, and, I believe that this (condition) will continue until September, when the runoff takes place," he said.

In a written statement, the EU-EOM said that the overall assessment of the polls was less positive than that of the April 5 legislative election.

"At only 78 percent of the polling stations visited were voters' fingers properly inked after voting, against 86 percent of those visited in the legislative election," it said.

The monitoring team said that at 21 percent of polling stations visited, some voters were permitted to cast their ballots without voter cards, compared to 16 percent in the previous election.

The team was also concerned about what it called the "partiality" of state-owned television broadcaster TVRI and private television station Metro-TV, which, according to the team, had demonstrated bias in favor of President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The EU EOM deployed 230 watchers to the country's 32 provinces, making it the largest foreign monitoring team overseeing the election.

Other foreign watchers from the Australian Election Observer Team commended the way in which the election was orchestrated, calling it "free and fair".

"The Australian team did not consider minor incidents ... as affecting the overall national integrity of the electoral process," said a statement from the team that was made available to The Jakarta Post.

The team said the Indonesian government and the General Elections Commission (KPU) should be congratulated.

Led by member of parliament Chris Gallus, the team deployed members to polling stations across the country, including in Java, Sumatra, East Kalimantan, Bali and East Nusa Tenggara.

Also on Tuesday, Megawati expressed gratitude to the nation's people who had made the election a success. The President is placed second in the provisional tally.

"I am very proud ... we have proven our political maturity," she said.