PPP delays statement on general election results

JAKARTA (JP): United Development Party (PPP) executives failed to agree yesterday whether to accept the results of the general election, which they alleged was rife with cheating.

They extended their meeting, due to end yesterday, until this morning to issue a statement on the results.

PPP secretary-general Tosari Widjaya and deputy chairman Jusuf Syakir told reporters yesterday that a tough debate was continuing between chiefs of the 27 provincial chapters and the central executive board.

"Every chapter has been given time to air its view," said PPP deputy chairman Zein Badjeber. He conceded that most time was used for discussions on reported cheating by local election officials.

"We've heard of so many cases of fraud, and we're discussing whether they originated from weaknesses in our electoral laws," he said.

He said the central board had given party chapters full authority to launch their own "legal or political action" on intimidation and terror against PPP scrutineers and cheating by local polling committees.

Badjeber said the West Sumatra chapter and the Sampang regency branch in East Java had asked for a revote in their regions. The chapters of Aceh, Bengkulu, Lampung, Southeast Sulawesi and South Sulawesi had declared they would not accept the final poll results in their regions.

PPP Jakarta chapter chairman Rusjdi Hamka said his chapter would not accept the final poll results before receiving a satisfactory explanation from the government on how it was going to handle reports of poll-rigging attempts and cheating.

"We demand that the government solve those problems for the sake of a quality election," he said.

PPP leader Aisyah Amini reiterated her party's wish to campaign for electoral law reform. "Without such reforms, there would not be any progress in democratization," she said.

She said the party had long been demanding that general elections be held by the parties, not the government. She cited the 1955 election, which was the first after the country's independence in 1945, in which the parties helped control the election so that every interest was accommodated.

"Now, the election is organized by the government, while our political format is such that it is impossible to differentiate between the government and the ruling Golkar that it backs," she said.

On cheating during the election, Aisyah said her party was not the only one crying foul. The National Commission on Human Rights and "many other people" had said the election was marred by poll rigging.

The PPP is planning to sue those it believes are responsible for cheating. (aan/mds)