Golkar takes the lead in South Sulawesi

UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): The ruling Golkar party took the lead on Sunday with 2,412,548 of the estimated 3.6 million votes in the province.

The United Development Party was in second place with 279,351, followed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (271,093), the National Mandate Party (127,018), the Independence Vanguard Party (48,846), the National Awakening Party (54,736) and the Justice and Unity Party (47,650).

The province has been allocated 24 seats in the House of Representatives.

Golkar's victory was widely anticipated as the province is one of the party's traditional strongholds. Pro-Golkar sentiment has also been on the rise since the party named the South Sulawesi- born President B.J. Habibie as its sole presidential candidate in May.

Among the party's legislative candidates is Nurdin Halid who was acquitted of embezzlement in March.

The local district court acquitted Nurdin, who was accused of embezzling Rp 115.77 billion from farmers' compulsory accounts at a local cooperative center, amid violent student protests in the city.(27)