Prominent politicians unsure of House seat

JAKARTA (JP): As well as keeping voters in suspense, the snail's pace of the General Elections Commission's (KPU) vote count has also kept many big name politicians waiting to see if they will get a seat in the House of Representatives (DPR).

But with the tallying already past the halfway mark, some prominent politicians whose parties have not reached the 1 percent benchmark have had to bury their dreams of qualifying for the House.

Even Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung and his Justice Party (PK) counterpart Nur Mahmudi Ismail have yet to secure legislative seats, according to the official tally of votes as of 5:30 Wednesday evening. Golkar and PK had won 268,633 and 123,417 votes respectively, below the estimated 281,791 needed to win a seat in the Jakarta constituency.

Crescent Star Party (PBB) chairman Yusril Ihza Mahendra faces a more difficult path than these two. So does National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Matori Abdul Jalil, who is a candidate in Tegal mayoralty in Central Java.

Representing Cianjur regency in West Java, Yusril needs about 297,000 more votes to himself become a legislator. Matori is about 290,000 votes short of the expected quota to set by the KPU for Central Java.

The minimum number of votes required for a House seat is different in each province, and is determined by the KPU according to the total number of valid votes cast and number of regencies in the province.

Amien Rais, chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN), and United Development Party (PPP) chief Hamzah Haz, both representing Jakarta, have booked tickets to Senayan, the Central Jakarta greenbelt where the House is situated. Their Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) counterpart Megawati Soekarnoputri has also qualified.

Leaders of tiny parties, meanwhile, will have to drop their bid for House seats.

The likes of Edi Sudrajat of the Justice and Unity Party, Mien Sugandhi of MKGR Party, both were cabinet members under former president Soeharto, Budi Hardjono of the Indonesian Democratic Party and tycoon Probosutedjo of the Indonesian Nationalist Party Front Marhaenis will all likely miss the cut.

The list of leading also-ran figures looks to include Cacuk Sudaryanto of the People's Sovereignty Party, who is a former director of state telecommunications company PT Telkom, PBB deputy chairman Ahmad Sumargono and Said Aqil Siradj of PKB.

Among those still waiting to know their fate are PKB secretary-general Muhaimin Iskandar, who is a candidate in Sidoarjo regency in East Java, running mate Khofifah Indar Parawansa of Surabaya, PPP executive A.M. Saefuddin, who is also Minister of Food and Horticulture, PAN deputy chairman A.M. Fatwa and Golkar deputy chairman Slamet Effendy Yusuf. They all have a chance of clinching House seats due to the considerable number of votes already won by their parties.

The fates of Deputy House Speaker Abdul Gafur of Golkar, controversial legislator Nurdin Halid, also from Golkar, PPP secretary-general Alimarwan Hanan and his deputy Bachtiar Chamsyah are hanging in the balance. As of Wednesday afternoon the KPU had not released its vote tallies in the regencies where those noted figures were running.

Less than a week before the KPU is due to announce the final results of the polls, PDI Perjuangan remains on top in the nationwide count. The party should secure the largest amount of seats in the House, thanks to its impressive showing in provinces on Java, where many legislative seats are concentrated.

Golkar was third behind PKB in number of votes, but second to PDI Perjuangan in the expected number of seats won due to its wide lead in the four provinces of Sulawesi and in some Sumatra and Kalimantan provinces.

The tally of votes compiled by Antara from provincial election committees nationwide showed that PDI Perjuangan led the pack with 29,884,859 votes, more than 34 percent of the votes counted. Golkar was second with 19,297,540, ahead of PKB which gained 12,188,102.

PDI Perjuangan dominated the polls in 12 provinces, while Golkar reigned supreme in 13 provinces.

Coming next according to vote amounts are PPP, PAN, PBB and PK. The remaining 40 parties won less than 1 percent of the vote.

The news agency claims to have counted 87,606,842 votes. An estimated 117.8 million people registered for the June 7 polls. (amd)