Megawati in the lead, followed by moderate Islamic "Awakening" party
Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies) At the first rays of dawn, before polls were opened yesterday morning, vote "buyers" stepped immediately into action to win the ballots of roughly 147 million Indonesians electing new members of Parliament. From initial counts its appears that the current president's party has taken the lead.
The Jakarta Post published partial results up through noon local time. Only 15 of the country's 33 provinces had sent counts of votes on-line to the General Election Commission.
Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Struggle Party(PDI-P) so far leads with 19.5% of votes. In close second place is the Islamist National Awakening Party (PKB) of former president Abdurrahman Wahid, taking in 18.95% of ballots cast. The Golkar party, which was the favorite to win, has won 15.4% of votes. At some distance behind are the Democratic Party of ex-security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (10.71%) and the Islamic Prosperity and Justice Party (PKS) with 9.59%.
A recent survey had shown that a third of voters were undecided before election day. Yet the most serious problem at hand is corruption and the buying of votes right up until the last minute.
Representatives from every party have gone knocking on doors, offering money for votes. During the election campaigns, candidates and parties tried to win votes by offering financial incentives and gifts (like rice and cigarettes).
"We offered 100 rupies (around 9.5 euro) directly to voters and threatened them a little and reminded them not to swindle us," said one vote "buyer" from Jakarta. Last week at an election rally in the capital one member of Parliament threw 100,000 rupie bills into the crowd, sparking a brawl that ended in 2 people being injured.
According to Indonesia Corruption Watch almost every political party has used such a strategy. Analysts say that the "last-minute purchasing" of votes will make election outcomes all the more uncertain. (MR)
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21/10/2004
