PPI confident vote count completed by Wednesday

PPI confident vote count completed by Wednesday

JAKARTA (JP): The National Elections Committee (PPI) is
expected to complete the national vote count of the June 7
general election on Wednesday.

As of Tuesday, the PPI had finished the vote count in 24
provinces and 108 overseas polling places. Outstanding ballots
originated from Bengkulu and North and Southeast Sulawesi.

"We'll continue counting the ballots tomorrow (Wednesday)
afternoon and give officials of the three provincial elections
committees an opportunity to prepare their official poll
documents," PPI deputy chairman Djuhad Mahja said on Tuesday.

Djuhad, who presided over a Tuesday plenary session, said the
final day of the vote count would start at 1 p.m.

He said the PPI was committed to announcing the national tally
before the July 21 deadline.

Tuesday saw the completion of the vote count in Central
Sulawesi, West Sumatra and West Kalimantan.

Provisional poll results revealed that Golkar and the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) won in
11 provinces each.

Golkar topped the vote count in Riau, Jambi, Irian Jaya, East
Timor, West Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, South Sulawesi, East Nusa
Tenggara, Central Sulawesi, West Sumatra and West Kalimantan.

PDI Perjuangan reigned supreme in Bali, Yogyakarta, Central
Java, Lampung, Central and East Kalimantan, South Sumatra,
Jakarta, North Sumatra, Central Kalimantan and West Java.

The United Development Party (PPP) and the National Awakening
Party (PKB) triumphed in Aceh and East Java respectively.

Djuhad said, however, the PPI still needed to verify a report
of 146 invalid ballots found by the Donggala Regency Elections
Committee in Central Sulawesi.

A verification team composed of PPI officials, the Central
Sulawesi Provincial Elections Committee, the Donggala Regency
Elections Committee and the official Elections Supervisory
Committee assessed on Tuesday the Donggala elections committee
claim. The team agreed that all ballots from the regency, which
reportedly were not punched but contained thumbprints, must be
delivered to the PPI as evidence by July 19.

The invalid ballots were in favor of Golkar.

"If it's true that the 146 ballots were stamped with the
voters' thumbprints, they are automatically invalid," said Adhi
S., an official of the government-sanctioned poll watchdog.

He said the supervisory committee would not hesitate to take
firm actions against any parties found violating the election
rules.

"In a meeting of the verification team this afternoon, we
discussed the possibility of reducing any errant party's votes by
20 percent," he said.

Meanwhile, a planned meeting between General Elections
Commission (KPU) chairman Rudini and Minister of Home Affairs
Syarwan Hamid was moved back to Wednesday because Syarwan was out
of town.

Rudini said he would channel objections raised by some KPU
members over a government regulation which allows the elections
supervisory committee to validate the poll results, despite being
rejected by the majority of the KPU representatives. The ruling,
issued in May, orders parties objecting to the poll results to
make an appeal within a week of the announcement of the national
tally.(imn)