Wiranto trounces Akbar in Golkar race

Kurniawan Hari and M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Former Indonesian Military chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto is the Golkar Party's presidential candidate, after he trounced party leader Akbar Tandjung in a tense head-to-head vote here early on Wednesday morning.

Wiranto's resounding victory -- an outright majority of 315 votes -- compares to Akbar's lesser total of 227. Akbar looked increasingly strained and tired during the voting.

The winning candidate needed a minimum of 271 of the 542 votes cast. Four votes were ruled invalid while one delegate abstained from voting.

Most of Wiranto's votes came from Golkar's grassroots -- the parties' regental and municipal chapters. Akbar, meanwhile, had already secured 18 votes allocated for Golkar's Central Executive Board (DPP).

Earlier, Golkar leader Akbar Tandjung and former Indonesian Military chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto qualified for the second and final round of the party convention to select its sole presidential candidate.

The convention became a head-to-head runoff after none of the five candidates managed to collect a simple majority of more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round. There were 547 votes at stake, two more than the previous estimates, following the entry of two more regental party chapters.

Vote counting in the deciding round started at 11:45 p.m.

Akbar, who last February was acquitted from graft charges, had earlier finished first in round one, with 147 votes, against 137 for Wiranto.

Businessman Aburizal Bakrie came third with 118 votes; followed by media magnate Surya Paloh, 77 votes; and former chief of the Army's Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto, who won 39 votes.

One participant abstained and 28 votes were declared invalid in the first round.

Aburizal, Surya, and Prabowo accepted their defeats and said they would let their supporters make their own decisions in the runoff.

Surya and Prabowo said leaders of the party's regental branches and provincial chapters had exercised their common sense in selecting Golkar's presidential candidate.

Aburizal took an early lead with Wiranto closely trailing. Both won much of their votes from the Golkar's regional chapters, which have one vote each.

Akbar, however, came from behind to win the first round, thanks to support from most of the party's 32 provincial branches. A provincial chapter has three votes each.

Many speculated said vote buying was widespread at the convention. However, some participants dismissed these reports.

Leaders of other political parties, including Amien Rais of the National Mandate Party (PAN), Alwi Shihab of the National Awakening Party (PKB), and Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), attended the opening session in the morning.

All Golkar's presidential aspirants were given a chance to present their programs and platforms before participants of the convention, who packed the Jakarta Convention Center in Central Jakarta.

In his presentation Surya Paloh said that as Golkar won the most votes in the legislative election, it had to take the lead in any coalition forged ahead of the presidential election on July 5.

Unlike previous conciliatory speeches, Akbar on Tuesday blatantly attacked his four rivals for not doing enough to help Golkar survive during its toughest period since the fall of president Soeharto in 1998.

"Where were they (the four presidential aspirants) in 1999?" he asked, referring to the year when Golkar suffered its first defeat in a legislative election.

Akbar survived an attack and Golkar's East Java chapter office was set ablaze during the election campaign that year, he said.

Under his leadership, Golkar looked certain to finish first in this year's legislative election, Akbar said.

Responding to Akbar's speech, Wiranto said no one in the party could claim Golkar's success was solely due to them.

"Without the unity of all Golkar members it would be impossible to achieve anything," he said.

Wiranto said the convention should produce a presidential candidate that was equal to political rivals from other parties.

Without naming himself, Wiranto said Golkar's candidate must have the competence to challenge Megawati Soekarnoputri from PDI- P, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono from the Democratic Party, and Amien.

Prabowo said Golkar members must support whoever was elected the party's presidential candidate.