Keith Loveard, Jakarta – Indonesia's ruling group, Golkar, has always been in a no-lose situation. Under the country's electoral system, only three political parties are allowed to contest parliamentary polls, and all candidates must be vetted by the authorities. Golkar is the oldest and best-organized, and the one with most government support. But now, on the eve of final official results being declared for the May 29 ballot, critics say Golkar resorted to overkill in the form of cheating to win an election that was already secured.

Golkar has been accused of the same charge in previous ballots. Also, Indonesia is hardly alone in suffering from election fraud. It is endemic in the Philippines, for example, though that country at least boasts a vibrant opposition (see story, page 20). But this time, the other political parties and the new unofficial Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP by its Indonesian initials) are making a bigger deal of the issue than before – another sign of growing discontent with the staus quo. As they tell it, Golkar used various cheating permutations (see panel for 10 quick steps) to win 74% share of the vote. The violations, they say, began as early as just a year after the last election in 1992.

It was in 1993 that the then information minister, Harmoko, was named Golkar's chairman. He soon embarked on a series of tours wearing Golkar's yellow jacket. He said he was holding meetings with cadres. His opponents charged that he was campaigning. The difference might seem trifling to non-Indonesians – and not worth complaining about – except that the government strictly draws the line with the other groups. No campaigning means just that – in any form.

Whatever the semantics, Harmoko's "meetings" received full nationwide media coverage. State-owned Radio Republic Indonesia and Televisi Republic Indonesia continue to enjoy a monopoly on news broadcasts, which must be transmitted by all private stations. Only one TV station is bold enough to regularly drop such broadcasts – for live soccer from Europe. At the end of this year's official campaign period (April 27 to May 23), KIPP added up the television airtime for the three contending parties. Golkar got a total of 247 minutes on the two main evening news broadcasts. The United Development Party (PPP) scored 119 and the Indonesian Democratic Party 107.

During the actual polling, one way to cheat was to obstruct the activities of opposition observers. "Witnesses are crucial in ballot counting," says Alexander Irwan, co-author of a study of the last parliamentary election. "In the past, they often became the target of intimidation." The same was true this time round, if you asked the PPP, which came in a distant second with 22% of the vote. "Almost all the witnesses were hindered in their work," says party secretary-general Tosari Widjaja. "People have the right to be suspicious about the results."

At least one civil servant would agree. "The voting card they gave me had someone else's name and address whited out," he says. "It was so blatant." He was also encouraged to vote in his residential area on the outskirts of the capital, as well as at the Jakarta address on his I.D. card. Further helping the ruling party's cause: members of the civil service – including teachers and staff of state-run companies – must belong to their official association and are therefore considered members of Golkar's "big family."

Harmoko has been at pains to dismiss alleged poll violations as isolated incidents. If dirty tricks were committed, he says, they were done by individuals, not by Golkar as a whole. "People say Golkar is identical with corruption, but I reject that," he declares.

In the end, the PPP climbed down from its threat to refuse to acknowledge the vote, which would have been just a symbolic gesture anyway. So the tally will stand without contest. Right or wrong.

Rules of how to cheat

• Begin campaigning before the official campaign period starts, but call it something innocuous like meeting-the-people.
• Maintain control over radio and television, and weight coverage heavily in your favor.
• Borrow private jets and use police escorts to get your campaign speakers to rally sites quickly and comfortably. Make sure every civil servant whose address is different from that on his or her identity card gets to vote in both areas.
• Encourage supporters to vote twice using falsified voting papers.
• Fix the electoral rolls by including dead people and those not old enough to vote; try to exclude those you are sure will not vote for you.
• Discourage the attendance of election observers from other parties by any means.
• Tell voting-age students they will not graduate – and villagers they will not get any development funds – if they don't vote for you.
• Count the votes in the privacy of a government office, not at the polling booth.
• Make sure only the trusted few have access to raw figures.