KPU rejects election results

KPU rejects election results

JAKARTA (JP): The much-awaited General Elections Commission
(KPU) announcement of the poll results turned out on Monday to be
yet another political complication when 27 parties rejected the
final vote count, and the KPU chairman deferred the final
decision to President B.J. Habibie.

The representatives of the political parties cited cheating
and other poll violations prevalent in the June 7 elections that
have not been handled properly by the Election Supervisory
Committee.

After a lively plenary session marked by protesting parties'
representatives airing their objections to the poll results, KPU
chairman Rudini said he would let Habibie decide whether the poll
results were valid.

Rudini met with Habibie in the afternoon. The President then
said in a televised address that he had asked the Election
Supervisory Committee to investigate "the reasons why the parties
refused to sign the poll results".

"I have also asked the committee to finish its job within the
next seven days," Habibie said.

There were at least two reasons for the vote-counting process
to become a deflated affair 50 days after the poll. The first of
which was a controversy over who had the authority to declare the
poll results valid. The second was the failure to handle the poll
violations, and the question of who should handle them.

Sri Bintang Pamungkas, chairman of the Indonesian Democratic
Union Party (PUDI), spoke for all 27 parties when he explained
they were forced to refuse to accept the poll results.

The June 7 poll did not differ from the ones under the
previous regime, he said. "It was not run fairly and freely and
was marked with manipulations and violations. We are very sorry
but we have to reject the election results."

The other 26 parties that rejected the poll results included
the Indonesian National Christian Party (Krisna), Indonesian
National Party (PNI), Masyumi Party, Justice Party (PK),
Indonesian Workers Party (PPI) and Rudini's MKGR Party.

They criticized the election supervisory committee for
inaction over reported violations.

The session proceeded as, outside the office, some 400 Muslim
youths from Surakarta, Central Java, held a demonstration
demanding an immediate announcement of the poll results and that
losing parties withdraw from the commission.

Seventeen other KPU members, including the five government
representatives, endorsed the results, while the remaining four
were absent from the session.

The 17 included the parties gaining a simple majority in the
elections: Golkar, the United Development Party (PPP), National
Awakening Party (PKB) Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI Perjuangan), National Mandate Party (PAN), Crescent Star
Party (PBB), Unity and Justice Party (PKP) and the People's
Sovereignty Party (PDR).

The government was represented in the KPU by Adnan Buyung
Nasution, Oka Mahendra, Afan Gaffar, Andi A. Mallarangeng and Adi
Andoyo Sutjipto.

Of the 462 House of Representatives seats contended in the
elections, 154 were won by PDI Perjuangan, 120 went to Golkar, 58
to PPP, 51 to PKB, 35 to PAN, 14 to PBB, six to the Justice
Party, three to PNU and one went to PKU.

Hasballah M. Saad, a KPU member representing PAN, criticized
Rudini and those who refused to sign the election results as
failing to appreciate their own work.

He said the KPU should have first asked the election
supervisory committee to check the validity of the 27 parties'
objections in line with government regulation No. 33, issued in
May 1999, which stipulates the committee has the final say on the
election results.

If the supervisory committee found the objections to be
groundless, the parties must then accept the poll results, he
said.

Joke

Meanwhile, the election supervisory committee (Panwaslu)
regretted the KPU rejection, accusing the small parties of
playing a joke and saying their reasons for refusing to validate
the poll results were baseless.

Committee deputy chairman Todung Mulya Lubis, who attended the
KPU session, said it was strange that minority parties rejected
the elections, which had won praise from the international world
and local election watchdogs.

"The international world and many local observers have praised
the elections because they proceeded better and fairer than those
in the past."

He also criticized the fact that his team members were not
given the opportunity to speak up in the session. "I will resign
from the election supervisory committee if the KPU relinquishes
its responsibility to the President," he said.

Secretary to the election supervisory committee M. Adhy S.
Aman told a media conference that the KPU decision to defer the
decision to Habibie was illegal.

He said that if any election commission or supervisory
committee members refused to sign the results, they should do so
in writing to the KPU and Panwaslu, citing Article 1 of the 1999
Law on Elections.

The report should be detailed, containing information on the
poll violations and who committed them, he said.

"KPU's decision to defer to the President was tantamount to a
denial of its own existence as an institution that is authorized
to decide the poll results."

The decision also negated the hard work of poll officials at
all levels and the aspirations of millions of Indonesian people
on June 7, he said.

The University Network for Free and Fair Elections (Unfrel)
and the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) had
announced a number election frauds. However, there was little, if
any, action taken.

Albright

Meanwhile, in Singapore, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright commended the Indonesian people for a successful and
peaceful election, but she noted that challenges, particularly in
the coming session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR),
remained.

"Additional hurdles must be surmounted before their journey
will be complete. Foremost is the need for the People's
Consultative Assembly to act with transparency and integrity in
electing the next president," she said. (05/mds/rms)