Golkar steps up pressures on PDI-P in seats race

JAKARTA (JP): The ruling Golkar Party can expect to close in on runaway polls leader Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) if it maintains its dominance in provinces outside Java.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the unofficial tally of returns compiled by Antara from 27 provincial elections committees put PDI Perjuangan in command. The Megawati Soekarnoputri-led party totaled 28,920,103 votes for the House of Representatives out of 85,043,333 votes counted.

Golkar collected 18,498,596 votes to stay second in the provisional standings. Despite the significant margin of more than 10 million, Golkar could throw the battle for the House seats open, thanks to its commanding lead in 13 of 27 provinces across the country.

The ruling party looked invincible in West Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu, West Nusa Tenggara, East Timor, South Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi and Irian Jaya.

PDI Perjuangan reigned supreme in only 11 provinces, four of them on highly populated Java.

The Golkar-dominated provinces offer 123 House seats altogether, almost one-third of the total 462 seats up for grabs in the general election. The Indonesian Military, whose members do not vote, is allocated 38 seats.

Golkar could earn half of the seats at stake in the 13 provinces to turn the tables on PDI Perjuangan, which has led the vote tally since election day on June 7, if the latter finishes empty-handed in those areas.

According to General Election Law No. 3, a party winning in a mayoralty or regency earns the minimum allocation of one House seat. The remaining seats allocated to the province will be divided among parties which collect enough votes.

Dubbed the "double-standard" formula, the mechanism to distribute House seats does not guarantee that a party with the most votes wins the most seats.

This may happen in East Nusa Tenggara, where, according to Antara's count, PDI Perjuangan will get one more House seat than Golkar, although it finished second in the vote tally. Golkar topped the standings with 575,509 votes, ahead of its fierce rival, which received 543,878 votes. However, the news agency reported that the opposition party dominated the polls in seven out of 13 regencies in the province to emerge the true winner.

In Irian Jaya, Golkar moved closer to taking nine of 13 House seats after a provisional count of the votes in regencies and the single Jayapura mayoralty put the ruling party in front.

PDI Perjuangan can hope to win the remaining four seats in Yapen Waropen, Merauke, Puncak Jaya and Mimika regencies.

In East Timor, Antara reported that Golkar and PDI Perjuangan were expected to share equally the four House seats allocated to the province. Golkar has so far won 149,716 votes for the House, against PDI Perjuangan's 112,858, according to the news agency.

With votes from 882 out of 912 polling stations counted, the two dominant parties left the pack of rivals hapless. Their nearest contender, the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) led by Budi Hardjono, managed only 9,796 votes as of Tuesday.

An estimated 350,000 people in the former Portuguese colony cast ballots on June 7, amid heightened tensions in the run-up to the direct vote to determine the territory's fate in August.

There was a see-saw race in Maluku, with Golkar already looking like it will secure three out of six House seats after winning the polls in North Maluku, Central Halmahera and Ternate regencies, Antara reported.

According to the agency, PDI Perjuangan has also clinched two seats after coming out the winner in Ambon mayoralty and Southeast Maluku regency. The party has a good chance of making it three as it has taken the lead in Central Maluku with 71 percent of the votes counted.

A victory in Ambon would earn PDI Perjuangan secretary-general Alex Litaay a passage to the House.(34/amd)