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)