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 The Wajo regency PPP chapter said it had withdrawn its scrutineers because of intimidation but would not reject the results.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)