Jakarta – Some 5,000 people angered by MPs' failure to heed their charges that gubernatorial elections were rigged stoned a local parliament building in eastern Indonesia, a report said Friday.

The attack by the mob, which converged on the parliament in scores of trucks Thursday, forced the MPs to flee the building in Mataram on the island of Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara province, the Suara Karya daily said. It also left four security personnel injured.

Suara Karya said the crowds first occupied the two-storey parliament building for four hours before pelting it with rocks and damaging it. MPs meeting inside preparing for the installment of the new governor on August 31 fled the building along with some 1,000 employees of the neighbouring gubernatorial office.

The mob pulled down the fences around the governor's office and damaged large flower pots and guard posts there, the daily said. Five trucks of police and soldiers deployed on site were also stoned, leaving four injured, the daily said.

The mob had been protesting against the election of a new provincial governor, which they said had been rigged to allow the government-backed candidate, a non-native of the province, to win. The gubernatorial election earlier in the month gave victory to Harun Al-Rasyid, with the two native candidates trailing far behind.

The protestors, including students, non-governmental activists, politicians and lawyers, said the MPs had failed to honor their promise to accommodate the aspirations of the local community in making their choice. They demanded fresh elections and warned of further violence should their demand be turned down. "If not (held again), the government should not blame us if we launch bigger actions," two of the protest leaders were quoted as saying.

The demonstrators left after negotiations with the local military chief, who promised to convey their demand to the local administration. Shops in the town closed down as the demonstrators marched through the streets on their way home, the daily added.

Under the Indonesian system, the local parliament has to propose three candidates for approval by the central government before one of them can be elected as provincial governor for a five-year term. The mayhem in Mataram came two days after citizens of the central Javanese city of Yogyakarta, which holds autonomous status, spontaneously declared the local sultan their governor in defiance of the three-candidate rule.