Parties given eight more days to trade votes

Parties given eight more days to trade votes

JAKARTA (JP): The General Elections Committee has given the
three parties eight more days to decide whether they will trade
votes to increase the number of seats in the House of
Representatives won by the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

"We'll let them discuss vote trading for PDI until June 25,"
the committee's secretary-general Suryatna Subrata said
yesterday.

"The initiative for vote-trading plans should come from the
contestants. The elections committee will not interfere and will
only facilitate discussions."

He acknowledged that the electoral laws did not cover vote
trading, and that the General Elections Institute was not
authorized to initiate such deals.

This was a turnaround by the government which stated earlier
that the victorious party, Golkar, could only give votes to
parties that polled badly if the parties had agreed to a vote
trade-off deal before the election.

The PDI recorded an all-time low in this year's election,
securing only 10 seats in the House. It won 56 seats in the 1992
election.

Golkar chairman Harmoko has offered the PDI votes to increase
its number of seats in the House, but PDI leaders have refused
his charity. The United Development Party (PPP) has said that it
should get the first offer for vote grants because it came second
in the election.

Golkar's election strategy chief, Rully Chaerul Azwar, told
The Jakarta Post yesterday that vote grants could only be
initiated by the elections institute.

"It's part of the election institute's job," he said.

In response to Suryatna's statement, PPP deputy chairman Jusuf
Syakir said the government could not force the parties to help
increase the PDI's number of seats.

"A consensus may be reached later, but it will only tarnish
the government's image because it is (breaking) the law," Jusuf
said.

PDI secretary-general Buttu R. Hutapea confirmed yesterday
that his party would not accept Golkar's offer of votes.

"We'll make do with the votes we have earned, no matter how
few. There are still several days of ballot counting remaining,
it is possible there will be some changes in our results," he
said.

Meeting

Suryatna denied any knowledge of a report of a meeting of the
three parties, which concluded that Golkar would give the PDI
three House seats.

"I don't know of any such thing. They (the parties) have not
told the committee about it," he said.

Rully also denied the meeting had happened.

"There was only a meeting of the Election Supervision
Committee (yesterday) afternoon," he said.

The deadline for the approval of poll results for the House of
Representatives is June 24.

The National Elections Committee is scheduled to announce the
final poll results on June 23. According to electoral rules, the
results will remain valid without all three parties' approval.

Provisional results issued by the elections institute show
that Golkar has won 325 seats in the House, PPP 89 and PDI only
10 after the counting of about 115 million ballots.

Analysts have said the PDI needs at least three more seats to
operate effectively in the House. One seat for a deputy House
Speaker post, one to lead the party in the House and one so the
PDI has a representative in the 11th House commission.

"(Without additional seats for the PDI), the House's internal
regulations, which stipulate a mechanism for legislative
activities, must be reviewed," Suryatna said. (imn/amd)

Endorse -- Page 2

Vote rigging -- Page 4