PPP rejects poll results in 3 Sulawesi regencies

PPP rejects poll results in 3 Sulawesi regencies

UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): The United Development
Party (PPP), alleging widespread rigging and intimidation, has
rejected poll results in three of the province's regencies.

The three regencies are Sidrap, Gowa and Polmas. The Wajo
regency PPP chapter said it had withdrawn its scrutineers because
of intimidation but would not reject the results.

PPP Sidrap chapter chairman M. Suyuti said he would reject the
results because the party's scrutineers were not allowed to enter
polling stations.

Suyuti said government officials in charge of voting claimed
that scrutineers had gone to polling stations without identity
cards.

"How can government officials claim that the election has been
fair and honest if they rigged it in favor of a certain
contestant," he said in reference to the government-backed
Golkar.

He said that Ballot papers in some areas had been counted in
private homes, not in polling stations as mandated by law.

Suyuti's allegation was rejected by Sidrap electoral committee
chairman A. Salipolo. He said that PPP scrutineers without
identity cards were allowed to do their job after the government
issued them letters of recommendation.

In Gowa, local PPP chairman Muhammad Amin reported election
law violations to the local branch of the Independent Election
Monitoring Committee.

Amin said the election had been marred in his regency with
government officials intimidating PPP scrutineers and voters.

He rejected the poll results and called for a revote in
polling stations where vote-rigging was common.

When The Jakarta Post asked Gowa electoral committee chief
Syahrul Yasin Limpo about the allegation, he said: "I have not
received the report from PPP."

But the Gowa sociopolitical affairs office's chief, Soepandi,
said several PPP scrutineers had been rejected because their
names were not the same as those registered with the local
government.

In Polmas, local PPP chief Ahmad Latif said he would reject
the results because many government employees had voted for
Golkar at more than one polling station.

Polmas electoral committee chairman Tadjuddin R. Rachim said
he had not received an official report from the PPP on alleged
vote-rigging.

The independent monitoring committee's South Sulawesi branch
said yesterday it had received reports of thousands of vote-
rigging cases from PPP officials in the province.

The poll watchdog received a report from Wonomulyo, Polmas,
that PPP scrutineers had been refused access to ballot counting,
and many government employees had voted twice.

In Ulaweng, Bone, a village chief had taken away ballot boxes
before votes had been counted in the polling station, the
watchdog said.

PPP, which trails Golkar in ongoing vote counting, also
reported vote-rigging in the East Java town of Pasuruan, where
campaigning was marred by violence.

PPP Pasuruan branch officials claim that on the May 29
election day, many voters found the Golkar symbol on their ballot
papers had already been pricked.

The government has bowed to PPP pressure to repeat voting in
more than 111 polling stations in Madura, where vote-rigging
allegations triggered three days of mob violence. (30/nur/pan)