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.