U.S. mission says polls peaceful

U.S. mission says polls peaceful

JAKARTA: The U.S. Embassy's election observation team said on
Monday Indonesia conducted the direct presidential election
orderly and peacefully, without disruption to voter access to the
Sept. 20 polls.

"Our observers acknowledged significant improvement in
electoral logistics and election administration over previous
rounds," the observation team said in a statement.

It said its 60 official observers, who were deployed to some
400 polling stations in 22 provinces, witnessed some variations
in the procedures outlined by the General Elections Commission
(KPU), but it did not consider these variations to have had a
significant effect on the integrity of the process.

The team commended the KPU and the spirit of community
participation for "the most challenging electoral processes in
the history of democracy".

The observers included U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph L.
Boyce and U.S. Agency for International Development mission
director William M. Frej. -- JP