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)