Jakarta – The Indonesian authorities registered 141 Indonesian political parties in the first stage of filtering down numbers for the country's key June 7 national election, reports said Friday.

Seven other parties failed to complete all registration requirements by Thursday's deadline, Justice Ministry registration committee spokesman Bambang Wijono said, according to the Jakarta Post daily.

Next, a team of 11 public figures will check the parties' eligibility, looking into details such as the headquarters address, party constitution, leadership and membership around the country.

To qualify for the first general elections since the fall of former president Suharto last year, the parties must have branches in at least 14 of Indonesia's 27 provinces and in at least half of the districts in those provinces.

Included in the parties that got through the first test was the People's Democratic Party whose leader, Budiman Sujatmiko, is currently jailed for subversion. The party was outlawed under the Suharto government.

The Indonesian Democracy Party for Struggle, headed by leading opposition politician Megawati Sukarnoputri, which was not recognised by the Suharto government, also qualified.

President B.J. Habibie, who took over when Suharto resigned last May, pledged elections on June 7 that will eventually lead to the appointment of a new president for a five year to start on January 1, 2000.

The June polls have been touted as the country's first fair and honest elections in decades.

The Suharto government allowed only three parties to contest elections. The others mushroomed almost overnight after Habibie scrapped the three party restriction.

[On February 23, Agence France Press reported that the Minister of Home Affairs, Syarwan Hamid, has speculated that the number of parties meeting all the requirements to take part in the elections would only be around 30 - James Balowski.]