Christine T. Tjandraningsih, Jakarta – The ruling Golkar party took a commanding lead Thursday in Indonesia's general election that is guaranteed to keep the party in power for another five years, according to preliminary official returns.
As of 8:50 p.m., Golkar, which has won every national election since 1971, polled 7,127,499 votes against 893,968 for the United Development Party (PPP) and 166,840 for the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
But the wide gap in the vote for Golkar and the PPP surprised local and foreign journalists who attended the announcement of the first round of vote count by Mohammad Yogie Suardi Memet, chairman of the Indonesian Electoral Committee.
Before the official count was conducted, it was clearly seen that Golkar and the PPP were closer during preliminary counting at polling booths, while the PDI only got a negligible vote.
Foreign observers, who attended Yogie's announcement, expressed concern that riots could break out if the PPP does not achieve a greater share of the vote by the last day of counting, expected to be June 5.
"The PPP did well during the campaigning and attracted many other supporters... the preliminary results are really unbelievable," an American observer said.
As the PPP attracted new supporters, political analysts predicted that Golkar's vote would decrease in this election.
Yogie refused to comment on the results to journalists after he announced the preliminary official returns.
The PPP and the PDI have repeatedly complained of irregularities in past elections, and have tried in vain to change the election rules.
Vote counting by the General Election Institute began shortly after the nation's 305,219 ballot stations closed at 2:00 p.m. after six hours of voting.
An estimated 125 million Indonesians went to the polls Thursday to vote for members of the House of Representatives. Among the voters are about 24 million young people voting for the first time.
At stake are 425 seats in the 500-member of the House of Representatives for a five-year term. The other 75 seats are reserved for the military, whose members do not vote.
The final results of the election will be officially announced on June 17, but unofficial results are expected within 24 hours of the end of polling.
General elections in Indonesia since 1977 have been held every five years. Political laws introduced in 1973 restricted participation in elections to the three government-sanctioned parties.
It is the sixth general election since 1971 held under the Suharto administration, and the seventh since Indonesia's independence in 1945.