Achmad Faisal, Surabaya – Witnesses from 20 small political parties walked out of a plenary session with the provincial elections commission (KPUD) on Wednesday, during the counting of votes from regencies in East Java.
The 20 small parties contesting the elections included the Indonesian National Populist Fortress Party (PNBKI), the Regional Unity Party (PPD), the Independence Party, the Patriot Party, the Ulema National Awakening Party (PKNU) and the Indonesian Workers and Employers Party (PPPI).
Observing the poor performance of their parties in 10 regencies, the witnesses, mostly provincial chairpersons, protested over alleged systemic manipulation of the April 9 legislative elections.
In contrast, witnesses from leading parties remained calm throughout the meeting.
PNBKI's Rudi Sapulete said the 20 parties agreed the legislative elections were conducted unfairly, due to the flawed voter lists they claimed benefited certain parties.
He said it was useless to continue the vote counting and the upcoming presidential election as the General Elections Commission (KPU) had failed to resolve the "systematic manipulation" of the voter list and corollary problems.
"It is better to skip the presidential election and just appoint the incumbent President for the next five years," he said after walking out of the plenary meeting.
Until Thursday, only 10 of 28 regencies and municipalities, including Trenggalek, Jember, Pacitan, Nganjuk and Gresik, had delivered the vote tabulation results to the provincial polling body.
Despite the walkout, the KPUD continued the vote counting in the presence of the major parties' witnesses.
Arief Budiman, a member of the provincial polling body, said the walkout had no impact on the results of the vote count. "They walk-out or they stay at the plenary session, the results of the vote count will remain valid, because they have been carried out in accordance with the 2008 general election law," he said.
However, he regretted the walkout which he said showed disdain for democracy and lacked political maturity. "Parties contesting the election have the right to reject signing the election results; however they are required to do so before the vote count is announced."
According to vote tallies from Pacitan, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party temporarily dominated in his home regency. Pacitan totaled 190,713 votes for SBY's party, inclusive of votes for other Democratic Party legislative candidates.
His son, Edhie Baskoro, won 113,265 votes, contesting a seat at the House of Representatives, in his electoral district in Ngawi, Pacitan and Trenggalek. His fellow Democratic Party candidate, Ramadhan Pohan, gained 11,085 votes.
Heri Achmadi and Hasto Kristiyanto, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), gained 5,576 and 1,574 votes respectively.