Golkar back in power at House

Moch. N. Kurniawan and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta

The General Elections Commission (KPU) announced on Wednesday the results of the legislative election, with former president Soeharto's Golkar Party returning to power in the House of Representatives with 128 of 550 seats.

The victory was a reversal of fortune for Golkar, which lost to the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in the 1999 elections, the first time it had been out of power since 1970.

Megawati Soekarnoputri's PDI-P finished behind Golkar with 109 seats, down from the 153 seats it won in 1999. The United Development Party (PPP) won 58 seats to finish third, similar to its showing in the 1999 elections.

However, the election results, announced during a plenary session of the KPU, were signed by only 10 of the 24 parties that contested the polls.

Those parties that signed the results were the PPP, the United Democratic Nationhood Party (PPDK), the Democratic Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Concern for the Nation Functional Party (PKPB), the PDI-P, the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS), the Pancasila Patriots' Party and Golkar.

An alliance of 14 parties refused to accept the results, with some parties filing lawsuits with the Constitutional Court.

Earlier in the day, National Awakening Party (PKB) patron Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, Freedom Bull National Party (PNBK) leader Eros Djarot, Marhaenisme Indonesian National Party (PNI) leader Sukmawati Soekarnoputri arrived at KPU's headquarters to announce that they would not accept the election result.

Gus Dur said the amount of questionable practices surrounding the vote made it impossible for the legislative election to be considered legitimate.

"The dirty practices in the 2004 elections will only result in an illegitimate government," he said.

The upstart Democratic Party, with presidential candidate Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as its main vote getter, finished the elections in fourth position with 57 seats, followed by the PKB with 52 seats (51 seats in 1999).

The National Mandate Party also won 52 seats, an increase from its 34 seats in the 1999 elections, followed by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) with 45 seats, a dramatic increase from the seven seats in won in 1999.

Golkar received 24,480,757 votes, followed by the PDI-P with 21,026,629 votes, the PKB with 11,998,564, the PPP with 9,248,764, the Democratic Party with 8,455,255, the PKS with 8,325,020 votes and PAN with 7,303,324 votes.

The PPP and the Democratic Party won more seats in the House than the PKB despite receiving fewer votes because most of the PKB's votes were concentrated in the East and Central Java electoral districts.

PAN also obtained more seats in the House than the PKS despite receiving fewer votes.

Of 148,000,369 registered voters, 124,420,339 people (84.06 percent) cast ballots in the April 5 elections. There were 113,462,414 valid ballots (76.66 percent) and 10,957,925 invalid ballots (8.81 percent).

In the 1999 elections, out of 118,217,393 registered voters, 105,786,630 people cast valid ballots and 3,641,546 invalid ballots.

Meanwhile, KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin said not all of those political parties rejecting the poll results had filed complaints with the Constitutional Court.

"So far, we have been notified of only four cases that will be brought to the Constitutional Court," he said. "Those cases refer to North Sumatra electoral district 2, the Riau islands, Papua and West Irian Jaya."

He said parties that refused to sign the election results would be barred from registering presidential and vice presidential candidates from June 6 to June 12.

The Prosperous Peace Party (PDS), the Freedom Bull National Party and the Democratic Party became the first parties to challenge the election results in court when they filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court on Wednesday.

PDS representatives filed a complaint against the General Elections Commission for allegedly annulling the party's votes in five electoral districts without sufficient evidence.

"It is about the right we have to protect," said Abraham Larobu, who heads the PDS branch in West Jakarta. The complaint was signed by the party's executive board.

Oka Mahendra, the secretary-general of the court, said the court would remain open 24 hours a day until 2 p.m. on Saturday to register complaints by political parties and Regional Representative Council candidates over the election results.