Hamzah, Akbar to go through to final vote

Hamzah, Akbar to go through to final vote

JAKARTA (JP): The nation was kept in suspense overnight as the
election of the vice president went down to the wire with the
last two candidates, Akbar Tandjung and Hamzah Haz, having to
fight it out in a third and final ballot on Thursday morning.

After two ballots on Wednesday, none of the original five
candidates was able to gain the required simple majority vote in
the People's Consultative Assembly to be elected as vice
president.

Hamzah took a slim lead during both ballots on Wednesday, with
Akbar trailing second on both occasions.

Two of the five candidates -- Coordinating Minister for
Political, Social and Security Affairs Agum Gumelar, and former
public housing minister Siswono Yudhohusodo -- were eliminated at
the first ballot, leaving Akbar, Hamzah and former coordinating
minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to fight it out in the second
vote.

Hamzah, in the first ballot on Wednesday afternoon, won 238
votes, Akbar 177, Susilo 122, Agum 41 and Siswono 31.

At least 307 votes were needed for a majority win.

After a three-hour adjournment, Assembly members gathered
again for the tedious balloting.

Assembly members continued to refuse the use of electronic
voting, which would have speeded up the process immensely,
despite the apparatus having already been installed and ready for
use.

During the second ballot a total of 609 votes were cast, thus
requiring the candidates to gain 305 votes to be declared a
winner.

The nation watched in suspense as the ballots were counted one
by one.

The tense mood was broken every once in a while as Assembly
members had sometimes written colorful anecdotes about their
chosen candidate.

"Hamzah Haz, the man with the tipped peci (cap)," said one
ballot paper.

As voting continued it was quickly obvious that another round
of voting would be required, as Hamzah could not get break free
from the trailing Golkar Party chief Akbar.

It became even more obvious that votes cast for Susilo were
becoming spoilers for Hamzah's possible victory as it meant that
the PPP (the United Development Party) chairman remained distant
from the required majority.

The final tally was 254 votes for Hamzah, 203 for Akbar and
147 for Susilo. There were three abstentions and two invalid
votes.

A tired-looking Assembly Speaker Amien Rais then openly
admitted that he was worn out, so he called for the Assembly to
adjourn until 9 a.m. on Thursday for the final ballot to be held.

"We are all tired and it is quite difficult to go on," Amien
remarked.

Politicians and supporters of both Akbar's and Hamzah's camp
would have been working overtime overnight to try to sway the 147
votes cast for Susilo in their favor.

Slamet Effendy Yusuf, a lobbyist of Akbar's camp, said his
faction would work hard overnight to lobby other factions,
especially supporters of Susilo and Siswono, to win the finale.

"We are optimistic of winning more than 100 votes from the 38-
member Indonesian Military/National Police faction and around 70
of around 150 supporters of Susilo and Siswono from the interest
group representatives and minority factions in the final ballot,"
he said.

He added that all 177 members of the Golkar faction who cast
their votes for Akbar in the first two rounds were expected to
maintain their loyalty.

Hamzah expressed the same optimism to win the hearts of
legislators from the Indonesian Military/National Police and
minority factions.

"Besides the PDI Perjuangan (Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle) faction, those who supported Susilo, Agum Gumelar and
Siswono in the first two rounds are expected to vote for our
candidate on Thursday," PPP deputy chairman Bachtiar Chamsyah
said.

Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno, an influential figure from PDI
Perjuangan, conceded that his party gave its political support to
Hamzah to secure President Megawati Soekarnoputri's government
and help create political stability.

"The majority in the 184-member PDI Perjuangan faction voted
for Hamzah in a bid to keep Megawati's government safe. PDI
Perjuangan hopes to create a peaceful situation and requires
Muslim people's support in running the government," he said,
after the first round of the vice presidential election.

Aberson Marle Sihaloho, an outspoken member of PDI Perjuangan,
said his faction was not solid in giving its support to Hamzah
"because some faction members cast their votes for Akbar and
Susilo in both rounds."

"Our faction has been instructed to support Hamzah but not all
faction members complied with the instruction," he said.
(rms/mds)