Final Vote Totals Show Win for Opposition in Indonesia

Political parties ratified the opposition’s solid victory in Indonesia’s national election Saturday, nearly six weeks after the country’s first free balloting in 44 years.

With the parties accepting the results of the June 7 election, the stage is set for the formation of parliament and the electoral college, which will select the country’s next president.

“This is one of the final stages of the very complicated and difficult process,” said Jacob Tobing, chairman of the Indonesian election commission.

The ballot gave a convincing victory to opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri’s Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle, which won 33.7% of the popular vote. Megawati is the daughter of Indonesia’s founding president, and the front-runner in November’s presidential election.

The ruling Golkar party got just more than one-fifth of the vote. Golkar served as a pillar for the regime of ex-President Suharto, the country’s longtime ruler, and used to win huge majorities in strictly regimented elections in the past.

Of the 48 parties participating in the ballot, only the leftist People’s Democratic Party refused to accept the results Saturday.

It charged that Golkar had tampered with the vote count, causing the long delay in the release of the final results.

“We have seen the process of deceit perpetrated by Golkar in many different ways, such as vote counting, false ballot papers and vote buying,” said Aan Rusdianto, the party’s representative in the electoral commission.

According to unofficial tallies, Megawati’s party will have 154 seats in the new 500-seat parliament.

Golkar will get 120 deputies due to a complicated system that allocates more seats to outlying islands where the ruling party still enjoys strong support.

Both Megawati and Golkar’s candidate, incumbent President B.J. Habibie, will need coalition partners to secure a majority in the electoral college.

The 700-member body convenes in November.