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| Southeast Asia |
| Megawati has a slim lead in Indonesian polls |
| 2004-04-06 |
| The political party of President Megawati Sukarnoputri held a slim lead Tuesday following Indonesia's parliamentary elections, but with less than one percent of the vote counted the race is wide open. From results so far, Megawati's Indonesia Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) leads with 20 percent, followed closely by the party of former President Abdurrahman Wahid. Golkar, the former vehicle of ousted autocrat Suharto, is third. Most opinion polls show Golkar likely to get most votes, although not a majority, as many yearn for the firm leadership and rapid economic growth that marked Suharto's 32-year rule. Soon after dawn, the General Election Commission announced results from a mere 400,000 votes out of an electorate of 147 million eligible voters. It is posting results on its Web site. The trickle of results harks bark to the last parliamentary poll in 1999 when the full count took weeks to complete. Election officials were not available for comment but had said a significant number of votes this time should be counted within one to two days, thanks to improved technology. The elections for the 550-seat parliament and local legislatures went off largely peacefully and were billed as history's biggest one-day vote. It was only the second democratic poll since Suharto's fall in 1998. The absence of major unrest should support, and might slightly boost, stocks and the rupiah currency, economists said. A win for Golkar -- which has sought to distance itself from Suharto while taking credit for economic growth then -- could badly dent Megawati's chances of winning a second term in Indonesia's first direct presidential election on July 5. Once results are in, parties will jostle to build coalitions before the presidential vote, in which recent opinion polls show Megawati has lost the status of frontrunner to her respected former chief security minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. But so far there is little sign political disillusion has brought increased support for Islamist parties, except for the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which has won support for its integrity and determination to stamp out graft. Opinion polls before the election showed 30 percent of voters were undecided or unwilling to reveal preferences, opening the door to some surprises for the 24 parties competing. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |