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)