KPU gives parties second chance to approve polls

JAKARTA (JP): The General Election Commission (KPU) gave the 27 political parties which rejected the election results on Monday one week to reconsider their decision.

"It is not an ultimatum, but it will be too late for the parties to change their mind if they do it after the President approves the election results next week," commission chairman Rudini said, after leading a plenary session on Tuesday.

Rudini said the commission decided at the plenary session that it would welcome the parties to retract and accept the election results.

He said he believed many among the 27 parties did not actually reject the election results but were unable to endorse the final vote count until the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) processed violations that were prevalent in the run-up to and during the June 7 poll.

At least ten of the 27 protesting parties have said they were ready to endorse the election results in principle, provided the commission noted the violations rather than simply brushing them away and declaring the poll fair and free.

Among the ten parties were the Justice Party (PK), Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), MKGR Party, All-Indonesian Workers Solidarity Party (PSPSI) and Indonesian Nation's National Party (PNBI).

Rasjidi, the PSPSI representative in the elections commission, denied rumors the minority parties rejected the election results in a bid to gain leverage in their political bargaining with the government.

"PSPSI will certainly sign the election results after the election is considered fair and free by the election supervisory committee," he said.

Speculation was rife among commission members that the minority parties plotted to reject the election results in order to pressure the government into granting them seats at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and allowing them to contend the next elections in 2004.

According to the 1999 General Election Law, parties which failed to get two percent of seats at the next House would not be permitted to contest the next elections.

Mustafa Kamal, the PK representative in the commission, said his party, which was expected to grab ten seats at the next House, refused to sign the election results in protest over violations that were not handled properly.

"We want all violations committed by the big and small parties to be investigated," he said.

Mulyana W. Kusumah, a member of the election supervisory committee, said his committee expected to be able to investigate in a week the reported violations which the 27 parties cited as reasons for their refusal.

"We will start our work tomorrow (Wednesday)," he said.

Meanwhile, the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) said despite violations and technical irregularities, the recent elections and its results remained valid.

The organization criticized KPU for its display of poor understanding of the election law and for ignoring the election supervisory committee's authority in evaluating the elections.

According to the law, before being handed over to the President, KPU should ask Panwaslu to verify the parties' reasons to reject the election results.

KIPP said the minority parties' win of 6.38 percent of the vote was not significant enough to justify the commission's decision to defer the final say to President B.J. Habibie.

Separately, Sri-Edi Swasono, a member of the National Front group of government critics, called on the election supervisory committee to hold a dialog with KPU and political parties to make a new agreement in line with the election results.

Arbi Sanit, a political expert at the University of Indonesia, criticized the minority parties' refusal as groundless.

"The violations were not significant because they affected only two percent of 130 million votes," he said.

Indria Samego, a political observer of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), hailed the President's decision to ask the supervisory committee to verify the minority parties' reasons.

Ichlasul Amal, rector of the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, also regretted the minority parties' rejection of the poll results. He said it was not a wise decision, as it would also adversely affect their fate in the next elections.

He also deplored Rudini's decision to also reject the poll results, saying the chairman should show loyalty toward the interests of the people rather than only toward the election commission. (05/44/rms/swa)