Parties up the ante over 'unfair' polls

M. Taufiqurrahman and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The number of political parties rejecting the legitimacy of this year's legislative election has grown -- and so have their demands. Not satisfied with a recount, they are now calling for nationwide reelections.

Citing endemic vote-rigging, 19 of the 24 political parties contesting this year's legislative election rejected on Saturday the April 5 poll results and called for the General Elections Commission (KPU) to call a reelection. Their move was slammed by analysts, who said it was motivated by short-term political gains and counter-productive to democracy.

Spearheaded by the National Awakening Party (PKB), the political vehicle of former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, the parties held the KPU accountable for the irregularities that took place during the election.

"Due to rampant irregularities before and after the election, we reject the election results and demand they are nullified. We have set up a crisis center that will collect data on violations of the election regulations. We will meet with the KPU on Tuesday to put forward our case," lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution, spokesman for the grouping, said. Buyung said the parties had yet to decide what to do if the KPU turned down their demands.

Ballot counting continued on Saturday across the archipelago with 60 percent of the 120 million expected voters completed.

On Friday, 17 political parties had demanded the KPU recount all ballots tallied electronically, as the parties were not involved in monitoring the counting process.

Since then, three more political parties have given their support to the recount, with only the PDI-P, the Golkar Party, the Democratic Party, and the Crescent and Star Party (PBB) supporting the electronic vote.

At Saturday's meeting, Gus Dur said the KPU had become the tool of the two largest political parties, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Golkar.

"We also call on law enforcers to bring the KPU members to justice for all violations they have committed," he said.

Earlier, local and international election observers agreed on April 5 the elections had been conducted peacefully and in a transparent manner despite logistical problems.

Another local observer group, the academic Rector's Forum, announced balloting proceeded well.

Meanwhile, Syamsuddin Haris, an analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said the political parties' move was counter-productive to building a more stable democracy.

"This (opposition is designed to) show those from anti- democratic camps, such as the military and the remains of the New Order, that civilians can't play by the rules and compete in fair elections," he told The Jakarta Post. Political bickering among civilians could serve as justification for the two elements to return to power, he said.

"I regret the fact that the disgruntled political parties have acted so selfishly," political observer Dewi Fortuna Anwar told the Post. "There have been glitches in the elections but that is not enough reason for them to demand a nationwide reelection."

Dewi said it was highly unlikely nationwide reelections would be held because this would involve another massive undertaking and "waste" taxpayer money.