Provinces play catch-up in tabulating ballots

JAKARTA (JP): A handful more provinces completed on Monday the tabulation of votes from the June 7 elections, several days past the June 17 deadline set for final tallies to be submitted.

The West Java electoral committee wrapped up the count and approved the results at 1 a.m. on Monday, a few hours after South Kalimantan, Aceh and West Sumatra.

Yogyakarta, Central Java, East Timor and Bali are the other provinces to have completed their vote count.

It took the West Java election committee two days to finish counting 23,797,277 ballots cast in 28 regencies and mayoralties. The committee found 756,235 invalid ballots.

Its final standings put the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) on the top with 7,583,503 votes for the House of Representatives. Second was the Golkar Party (5,439,334) followed by United Development Party (PPP/3,513,348) and National Mandate Party (PAN/1,707,252).

Of the 82 House seats on offer in the country's most populous province, 72 went to seven major parties. The remaining 10 seats will be distributed among parties which have agreed to pool their votes.

Secretary of the West Java electoral committee Istomo Gatot said the results were legitimate because they were approved by two thirds of 48 parties registered in the province. The ballots were delivered to Jakarta shortly after the final tally was announced.

Antara reported from Aceh that the local election committee concluded its vote tabulation on Sunday evening, despite disruption of the polls in the three troubled regencies of Pidie, North Aceh and East Aceh and in Teunom subdistrict in West Aceh. Repolling in the areas is tentative despite approval from the National Election Committee (PPI), the committee said.

The provincial election committee also excluded ballots cast in eight subdistricts in East Aceh, West Aceh and Southeast Aceh regencies due to technical matters.

At the end of the 48-hour-long vote count, PPP gained 254,148 votes for the House of 885,420 ballots cast. PAN collected 162,930, followed by Golkar with 135,117.

Nearly 1.5 million people were registered to vote in the province, home to increased antigovernment activity in the past few months.

In West Sumatra, protests marred the announcement of the final tally, in which Golkar narrowly beat PAN and PPP.

Golkar collected 459,577 votes for the House, turning the tables on preelection favorite PAN which gained 430,848. PPP received 400,702 for third. PDI Perjuangan, which reigned supreme in Java, ranked fourth with 231,759 votes.

Golkar's victory was tarnished by allegations that it justified unscrupulous tactics to gain votes. Suardi Chaniago of People's Choice Party (Pilar), Eddy Dasril of the Murba Party and Sonny Syahreno of Justice and Unity Party (PKP) demanded that Golkar be disqualified for violations it committed prior to election day.

"How can we accept a Golkar victory if its foul play is left unnoticed by the election supervisory committee?" Sonny said.

Angry Murba executives fired several party cadres were assigned as poll witnesses for signing allegedly dubious results.

Golkar also finished on top in South Kalimantan, taking 357,289 out of 1,486,242 votes cast in the province. PDI Perjuangan was second (316,660 votes) followed by the PPP (251,193).

The provincial election committee found 67,268 invalid votes. The final tally was sent to Jakarta on Monday, according to committee secretary Bambang Rachmadi.(28/43/amd)