Vote-rigging allegations spur call for repolling
Vote-rigging allegations spur call for repolling
JAKARTA (JP): Alleged vote-rigging involving Golkar Party and government officials prompted more demands on Friday that polls be reheld in several provinces.
In Jakarta, a tense provincial elections committee meeting concluded with an agreement to recount millions of ballots after inconsistencies were discovered in the original count.
The demand that ballots be recounted in Jakarta came from the representatives of 32 minor political parties on the committee.
National Elections Committee chairman Jacob Tobing said recounting the ballots would further slow the process but it was worth any delays for the sake of credible elections.
He also said voting would be repeated in a number of areas and between 800,000 and 1 million voters, or 0.8 percent of the 117 million eligible voters, would be affected.
New calls for the rejection of elections results came from North Sulawesi and South Sulawesi. Similar calls were earlier voiced in Southeast Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi and South Kalimantan.
In the North Sulawesi capital of Manado, 18 of the 39 political parties who contested the elections in the province agreed on Friday to reject the results of the polls and called for the elections to be reheld.
In a joint press statement, the protesting parties also demanded Golkar be disqualified because it bought votes and mobilized government officials to help it win the polls.
Among the parties calling for a revote are the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Indonesian Mandate Party (PAN), the United Development Party (PPP), the Justice and Unity Party (PKP) and the Indonesian National Christian Party (Krisna).
The spokesman for the parties, F. Sumampouw, said the elections were neither free nor fair because Golkar used money politics and included government officials and members of the military on its list of legislative candidates. He said Golkar's tactics were intended to mobilize the bureaucracy and the military in support of the party.
He also alleged that "political hoodlums" intimidated witnesses during vote counting.
The 18 political parties threatened to withdraw their legislative candidates unless the elections were repeated, Antara reported.
Separately, some 300 supporters of PDI Perjuangan and the Democratic People's Party (PRD) staged a demonstration at the governor's office on Friday demanding the polls be reheld.
Golkar has secured a comfortable lead in Manado with 831,147 votes, followed by PDI Perjuangan with 107,127 votes and PPP with 78,657.
Meanwhile, calls for the rejection of the June 7 polls in South Sulawesi gained momentum on Friday when 46 political parties in the province joined forces to demand the elections be reheld.
They said the polls were unfair due to intimidation and vote buying by Golkar Party, which retained strong support from the civil service and military in the province.
Of the 47 opposition parties, only the Abul Yatama Party did not join in the demand that the polls be repeated because it does not have a branch office in South Sulawesi.
After a tense meeting, officials from the 46 political parties issued a joint statement demanding the elections be reheld and the dismissal of the Gowa, Polmas and Bulukumba regents for allegedly assisting Golkar during the polls.
A spokesman for the party alliance, Saleh Bustami, said Golkar's sins were unforgivable.
"Golkar bought votes, used intimidation and involved civil and military officials to win the election," he said.
Golkar, which used its presidential nomination of B.J. Habibie -- a South Sulawesi native -- to attract local voters, raced to a big lead in the provisional vote tally.
In Jakarta, the spokesman for the National Elections Supervisory Committee, Dadang Hawari, said on Thursday elections could not be reheld unless the Provincial Elections Supervisory Committee could prove the alleged vote-rigging.
He said demands the polls be repeated showed that the public had an awareness of free and fair elections.
Meanwhile, the North Sumatran mayoralty of Sibolga will go to the polls on June 14, the secretary of the local elections committee, Tar. M. Samalanga, told The Jakarta Post.
The elections in Sibolga were postponed because of logistical problems, including an inadequate supply of ballots and indelible ink. (27/ind/40/imn/pan)