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