Golkar gaining ground in areas outside Java

Golkar gaining ground in areas outside Java

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) maintained on Wednesday its lead, but the vote
counting result as of 11 p.m. showed Golkar was slowly gaining
ground by leading in provinces outside Java.

According to the website of the General Elections Commission
(KPU), last updated at 10:23 p.m., votes had been tallied from 20
of the 27 provinces.

Earlier observations that Golkar should not be written off
were confirmed by early results from the provinces. The ruling
party led in Jambi, Southeast Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Central
Sulawesi, West and East Kalimantan and West Nusa Tenggara.

Golkar was trailing PDI Perjuangan in West Sumatra, Riau,
South Sumatra, Bengkulu, Lampung, West Java, Bali, East Nusa
Tenggara, North Sulawesi, Riau and was second to the National
Mandate Party (PAN) in West Sumatra.

Golkar was third in the provinces of Yogyakarta and East Java.

Among those known as "reformist parties" only PAN led in West
Sumatra and was second in Yogyakarta. The National Awakening
Party (PKB) led in East Java and was second in Central Java.

Quoting data from district polling committees nationwide fed
into the Joint Operations Media Center (JOMC) computer system,
operational director Ross Mackay said on Wednesday that 8,826,011
votes, or at least seven percent of approximately 100 million
eligible votes nationwide, had been tallied by 10:15 p.m.

JOMC helps to provide reliable but still unofficial results
from the KPU.

Data from the center sent to The Jakarta Post on Thursday
night before being fed into the system stated that PDI Perjuangan
led the vote tally with 3,015,133 votes.

Second was the ruling Golkar party with 1,871,877 votes,
followed by the National Awakening Party (PKB) with 1,050,911
votes, the United Development Party (PPP) with 926,786 votes and
PAN with 701,558 votes. Sixth position was held by the Crescent
Star Party (PBB) with 204,193 votes and seventh was the Justice
Party (PK) with 133,492 votes.

Mackay said delays in the relaying of election results were
mainly due to slow tallying in polling stations across the
country, with polling officials having to check and recheck data
before sending it to district polling committees.

"District polling committees nationwide phone or fax us the
results. Within two minutes of receiving the results, data is
immediately fed into the computer system," Mackay told the Post.

He denied earlier statements that all results would be
available in 36 hours.

Separately, chairman of the National Elections Committee (PPI)
Jakob Tobing acknowledged public concern over possible vote
rigging, which he said stemmed from the trauma of past elections.

"That (fear) is reasonable," he told Antara, promising results
free of manipulation by June 21 when the official announcement of
vote counting will be made.

Meanwhile, police were bracing for a possible upsurge of
street rallies and protests over the ballot counting result.
Jakarta City Police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman said
police have collected information about groups, including
university students, planning to stage rallies.

Security would be beefed up in several parts of the capital to
prevent "anarchic" protests that could disrupt public order, he
said. The spots, he said, included the Hotel Indonesia traffic
circle, the General Elections Commission building on Jl. Imam
Bonjol, Hotel Aryaduta, where the vote counting process is being
held, and the offices of political parties.

"Those are possible targets for protest," he said. "I believe
not many people understand the new ballot counting being employed
in the process, so they might become dissatisfied if results are
not as they expected."

Noegroho added that police should thank rumormongers who had
been cautioning people of possible unrest before and during the
elections, because they put the public on alert and forced
improved safety measures for themselves and their neighborhoods.
(anr/emf/swe/ylt)