National vote count still undecided

National vote count still undecided

JAKARTA (JP): The General Elections Commission (KPU) and the
Indonesian Elections Committee (PPI) have failed to reach an
agreement on the date of the initial ballot count and will
discuss the subject in a plenary meeting on Monday.

PPI chairman Jacob Tobing said after the plenary meeting with
the KPU on Friday that in the meantime the elections committee
would stick to the original schedule.

While the committee had earlier said it was ready to start the
count based on completed results from at least six provinces, the
commission said there were still too many unsettled complaints in
various regions.

"While waiting for the completion of the inventory on
suspected cheating and irregularities ... we'll stick to the July
6 deadline," Jacob said, referring to the date when results for
the House of Representatives and the provincial and regional
legislative bodies were to be announced.

The start of tallying by the official election bodies should
have started on June 21. Geographical factors and slow cross-
checking of tallying documents have also contributed to the delay
of provincial reports.

Jacob acknowledged that as well as unresolved instances of
alleged violations, there were also a few cases in which polling
officials were holding reports "hostage" because they had not
received wages. The commission stipulated Rp 40,000 payments for
polling place heads, and lower fees for members.

KPU member Andi A. Mallarangeng said the degree of election
fraud and irregularities varied, but involved almost all of the
leading political parties.

"A preliminary report provided by the KPU's special team found
that alleged cheating and irregularities were not only dominated
by the Golkar Party, but also by the Indonesian Democratic Party
of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan)," he said, declining to specify
details of the complaints.

On Tuesday, an 11-member team of the KPU was assigned to list
complaints of fraud and irregularities. The team is to coordinate
with the official Election Supervisory Committee.

KPU deputy chairman Adnan Buyung Nasution has denied that by
forming the team, the KPU conducted supervisory duties the law
assign to the poll watchdogs.

A preliminary report of election evaluation by the official
poll watchdog revealed that almost all parties contesting the
polls violated electoral laws and regulations. (imn)