---------------------------------------------------------- Visit Indonesia Daily News Online HomePage: http://www.indo-news.com/ Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ++ Pemilu Online: http://www.indo-news.com/pemilu/ ++ ---------------------------------------------------------- Antara, 10 Juni 1999 Japan Hails Indon Election But Concerned Over Slow Count Jakarta, June 9 (ANTARA) - The mission sent by the Japanese government to observe Indonesia's June 7 polls on Wednesday lauded the election as fair but expressed concern over the slow vote count. "Despite the limited time and location (covered by the mission), the overall (election) process was smooth and was in accordance with existing laws and regulations," head of the mission, Edamura, told a press conference here. By mid-afternoon Wednesday, two days after the election, only three percent of more than 100 million votes had been canvassed. Edamura said he touched on the slow vote count during a meeting with President BJ Habibie and chairman of the General Election Commission (KPU), Rudini, here Wednesday, hoping that the count could soon be finalized. He noted that according to Rudini, the slow count was due to the use of a new system of canvassing and counting. Edamura said he jokingly told President Habibie that Japan is ready to provide Indonesia with sophisticated equipment to help speed up the count. "But President Habibie said the japanese system may not work well here," he said. The Japanese mission deployed 20 observers to monitor the election in Jakarta, Medan (North Sumatra) and Ujungpandang (South Sulawesi). Thet visited 40 polling stations to observe the voting and counting. ANTARA reported that as of 4:40 p.m. Wednesday, Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) still led in the preliminary tally, pulling away with 8,658.578 votes. It was followed by the Golkar Party with 4,983,831; National Awakening Party (PKB) with 3,400,336; United Development Party (PPP) with 2,488,165; National Mandate Party (PAN) with 1,751,597; Crescent and Star Party (PBB) with 453,323; Justice Party (PK) with 245,172; and Justice and Unity Party (PKP) with 234,534. Meanwhile, chairman of the Indonesian Election Committee (PPI), Jacob Tobing, said the slow vote count is only a technical matter. Rudini earlier told reporters that the preliminary results will soon reflect breakdowns by districts and provinces instead of only national counts. The peaceful and orderly election is believed to have helped strengthen the rupiah which was trading at 7,740/7,770 against the US dollar on Wednesday. (T.NN-03/17:17/int-cl/18:27/fn01/9/06/99 19:06) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 12 Jun 1999 jam 11:57:15 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
