Poll praise premature: Experts

JAKARTA (JP): Foreign and local observers both voiced on Wednesday grave concern over the snail's pace of vote counting as an unofficial tally showed the ruling Golkar Party leaping into second place and opposition parties aired suspicion of foul play.

Earlier tallies put Golkar trailing in third place, but an unofficial tally late on Wednesday showed it leap-frogging the opposition National Awakening Party (PKB) and grabbing more than 20 percent of the counted votes.

European Union chief observer John Gwyn Morgan expressed his team's doubts as counting from Monday's election, the nation's first free vote in 44 years, continued at a snail's pace.

"This will cast gravest doubts that the whole operation will in the end be conducted as it should be," he told a news conference.

Morgan said the voting itself had been free and fair, but cited reports of irregularities in the process of counting -- a daunting logistical exercise in a country of 130 million voters -- and of data being typed wrongly into computers.

"This is very serious and it is uncorroborated. We are very concerned," he said. "The danger is that the slowness of the vote will become unhealthily slow."

Australia's chief observer also said it was important the count picked up pace. "If it takes too long, people will start to be concerned," said Senator Alan Ferguson.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, leading another team of election monitors, said he believed the delay was caused by technical factors but monitors would have to remain vigilant.

"Continuing delays could give rise to confusion and tension among the contestants and the public," the monitoring team led by Carter said in a statement.

General Election Commission (KPU) chairman Rudini said he was disappointed that results even from cities were taking so long, but said he hoped the speed would soon improve.

Recounts would be held in a handful of polling stations, mostly in the restive regions of Aceh and East Timor, he added.

As of Wednesday evening, figures from Rudini's office representing 4.4 percent of votes counted gave Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) a commanding lead on 38 percent.

Golkar was a distant third with around 15 percent with Abdurrahman Wahid's National Awakening Party (PKB) second with 21 percent. Abdurrahman, or Gus Dur as he is better known, had threatened to set up an emergency government should any evidence of tampering in vote counting emerged.

But unofficial tallies from the Joint Operations Media Center (JOMC) at the Aryaduta Hotel put Golkar second with 21 percent.

Those figure represented more than 6.6 percent of the vote and also put Megawati's party first with 35 percent and the PKB third with 12 percent.

Amien Rais, leader of the opposition National Mandate Party (PAN) which was languishing far behind its expectations in the early vote tallies, said the "painfully slow" count was a worry.

Amien, a front-runner for November's presidential election, said in a television interview delays could make people suspect cheating in Indonesia's first democratic election in more than four decades.

Television stations should be broadcasting highly detailed results from district and province levels to allay concerns, he told Reuters.

"If the suggestion about TV I mentioned is not implemented, then I would be forced to use my political logic and consider the fact that there might be foul play in the vote count. Many people are frustrated at the speed of this count," he said.

Rudini said separately: "Please don't be suspicious about the slowness of this count. We realize such delays have already aroused suspicion and impatience in the Indonesian community."

"I am worried about foul play if we have to wait for too long," said Laksamana Sukardi, an official of PDI Perjuangan.

The same concern was voiced by Todung Mulya Lubis of the University Network for Free and Fair Elections (UNFREL), who questioned some foreign parties' rush to praise Monday's polls as free, fair and democratic.

"An election can only be declared free and fair if the processes of vote counting, data processing and public announcement of the results are also free of manipulation," Todung said.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Tuesday the poll was democratic, as U.S. State Department's representative James Foley hailed enthusiastic Indonesians who went to the poll, while head of Japan's observation mission for the poll, Sumio Edamura, said voting and counting at polling stations were free and fair.

Todung pointed out the conclusions about the election being free and fair should have taken into account not only the polling but also the "vital processes of vote counting and transporting the ballot boxes to their final destination" which can be fraught with manipulation.

"That is why, monitoring agencies should not make do with secondary data as presented by the General Elections Commission (KPU), but must be willing to work hard to gather exact primary data," he said.

Speaking in a similar vein, Jeffrey Winters of the Northwestern University in Chicago told SCTV in an interview he was worried of possible vote-rigging "after foreign observers who have heaped praise check out of hotels, for now we are facing a phase vulnerable to fraud."

Activist Wardah Hafidz of the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) also criticized premature praise. "The local observers report many irregularities and are not yet willing to declare the poll free and fair," she said.

Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander General Wiranto called on the public to be patient and avoid making statements that would create restlessness.

"The poll proceeded well. Avoid unnecessary acts which would disrupt this good development, especially now that vote counting is underway," he said, warning that those who created a disturbance regarding the elections would have to contend with both the people and the military. (swe)