PDI threatens to boycott further election stages

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), disappointed by its poor showing, threatened yesterday to shun the remaining stages of the general election unless voting was held again and election violators punished.

The PDI released a statement of protest yesterday signed by its chairman Soerjadi and secretary-general Buttu Hutapea. It demanded that the voting in some places marred by cheating, be held again and legal action be taken against those who had violated election rules. The statement was released after the party held a plenary meeting.

"If those demands go unheeded and are not properly handled by election organizers, we will consider boycotting the remaining election stages," said the statement.

The National Elections Committee will announce the final results of the poll Saturday. The remaining stages of the election are the June 18 approval of poll results by the three parties and the swearing in of members at the House of Representatives on Oct. 1.

A repeat of voting at 86 polling stations in Sampang, Madura, has forced the elections committee to postpone the announcement of final results for two days.

Buttu said a long litany of irregularities during campaigning, ballot counting and other stages of the poll had been heard at yesterday's meeting.

"We are concerned about the general election which has been tarnished by several types of violation. The quality of the general election should have been improved," the statement added.

Despite the statement, the party's leadership vowed to carry out all organizational and constitutional obligations until the party's next congress in 1998.

The statement followed a marathon leadership meeting which began Monday and finished at 7:00 a.m. yesterday. Several journalists slept at the party's temporary headquarters in Kuningan, South Jakarta, where the meeting was held, to hear the party's statement.

After reading the statement, Buttu said the PDI would send official copies to the General Elections Institute, the National Elections Committee and the Election Supervision Committee.

PDI North Sumatra branch chief Pattawi Bowi said the boycott of further election stages could mean an unprecedented move to relinquish its seats in the House of Representatives.

"The statement is a temporary decision because there were a lot of options offered by those at the meeting. Some branches, including North Sumatra, support the plan to exit the House," said Pattawi.

He said he preferred quitting the House so the party could concentrate on preparations for the next election in 2002.

Pattawi said the party leadership had assigned a special team to define the PDI's stance in detail over the offense-ridden election. The team, comprising members of the party's central board plus five branch chiefs from North Sumatra, Irian Jaya, Central Java, East Java and East Nusa Tenggara, was given a week to complete its work.

Buttu denied that the party had demanded an election rerun in the hope of increasing its votes and House seats.

"We just want the government to carry out those duties fairly and honestly. It doesn't matter if the repeat turns out to give us the same result," he said.

The minority party, which was created in 1973 by a fusion of small nationalist and Christian parties, finished a distant third in this year's election.

By yesterday, the party had only gained 10 House seats in vote counting, down from the 56 it gained in the 1992 poll. Golkar has secured 325 seats in a record victory and the Moslem-based United Development Party (PPP) has 90 seats.

The PDI stated that its under-representation would adversely affect decision making in the House and the People's Consultative Assembly, disrupt political articulation and endanger the nation's political structure which relies heavily on the existence of all three parties. (amd)