PDI-P ahead but Golkar controls more provinces
PDI-P ahead but Golkar controls more provinces
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI-P) maintained the slimmest of leads in the
legislative election on Saturday, but House Speaker Akbar
Tandjung's Golkar Party ruled in more than half of the country's
32 provinces.
By 10:30 p.m. Saturday night, PDI-P had won a total of
14,327,966 votes, or 20.49 percent of the 69,922,582 votes
counted nationwide, compared to Golkar's 14,168,662 votes or
20.26 percent.
The National Awakening Party (PKB), the United Development
Party (PPP), and the Democratic Party came third, fourth, and
fifth respectively. The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the
National Mandate Party (PAN) came sixth and seventh.
Despite leading the tally, the PDI-P on Saturday had only won
four provinces -- Central Java, Yogyakarta, Bali, and Maluku.
This is much lower than Golkar that dominated vote counting in
the 24 provinces, including West Java, and Banten. Golkar took
most of the provinces in Sumatra and Kalimantan and all provinces
in Sulawesi, and Papua.
The PKS won the biggest share of the Jakarta vote while the
PKB dominated counting in East Java, the stronghold of the
country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).
Meanwhile, politicians stepped up their criticism of the
General Elections Commission (KPU) for its failure to show the
tallies at each of the 69 electoral districts. They argued the
publication of total votes at the national level was misleading
because it did not reflect the number of seats political parties
had secured.
Commenting on the criticism, Minister of Home Affairs Hari
Sabarno said on Saturday that only the KPU had the authority to
declare the general election valid or not.
The minister said the tally as shown in the mass media was
only a preliminary result.
Meanwhile, Yogyakarta GKR Hemas, the wife of Governor Sultan
Hamengkubuwono X, gained most votes of all candidates standing
for the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) in the province,
followed by Aliwarsito, Benyamin Sudarmadi, and Abdul Hafidh
Asrom.
Each province will get four representatives to sit in the DPD,
an Indonesian version of the U.S. Senate.
In Jakarta, businesswoman Mooryati Sudibyo topped the tally,
followed by former minister Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, Biem Triani
Benyamin, and Marwan Batubara.
Ginandjar Kartasasmita, a former minister and deputy speaker
of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), prevailed in the
election of DPD candidates for West Java. Trailing behind him
were Muhammad Surya, Arief Natadiningrat, and Sofian Yahya.
The four top candidates for Central Java were Nafisah Sahal,
Budi Santoso, Sudharto, and Ahmad Chalwani, while for East Java,
the candidates were Mahmud Ali Zain, Mujib Imron, Nuruddin
Rahman, and Mardjito.