Robert Go, Jakarta – Judging by statements from international and domestic monitors of Monday's historic presidential election, two completely different events seem to have been observed.

The Carter Center, for instance, with former US president Jimmy Carter and a total of 60 monitors on the ground, said: 'It was an honest, fair and safe election.' The vote marked 'another important step' in Indonesia's democratic consolidation, they said.

The European Union, with 232 observers covering a sampling of Indonesia's 575,000 polling centres, stopped short of calling Monday's process 'free and fair'.

But its statement yesterday was softer compared to critiques from domestic groups, some of whom gave the first round of the election a barely passing grade of six out of 10.

The differences between domestic and foreign groups' assessments might be due to technical factors. There were hundreds of thousands of domestic monitors covering a wider range of locations than the mere hundreds mobilised by international parties.

Political reasons could also be in play. Analysts said foreign groups were less likely to be harsh on the Indonesian process due to fears of angering the government. Those who had helped to fund the election process could also want to avoid criticising an exercise into which they had poured millions of dollars.

Mr Gunawan Hidayat, head of the People's Voter Education Network (JPPR), said there had been "some positive developments from the past" on Monday but he quickly added that problems seen during the vote were serious enough to affect the quality of results: "We just can't call it free and fair."

The group had more than 100,000 people in all 32 provinces of the country, covering roughly one-fifth of all polling stations. Problems they reported included lack of access facilities and aid for the handicapped, intimidation tactics in the days leading up to election day and as voters made their way to polling centres on Monday.

People are also concerned about the recount of ballot papers, something made necessary after millions of voters did not unfold their ballot slips and ended up punching two holes instead of one. These ballots were initially deemed invalid but the General Elections Commission (KPU) reversed its decision after polling stations reported having received millions of such votes.

But the most serious issue was that many locations allowed unregistered voters to take part in the election. Ink used by elections-organiser KPU to mark the fingers of people who had voted on Monday was meant to last three days – to stop people from voting twice or more. Reports are coming in that poor-quality substitute ink was used nationwide and people could simply wash off marks received at polling centres.

Mr Hadar Gumay of the Centre for Electoral Reform (Cetro) said both the fact that unregistered people were allowed to vote and that the ink was less permanent meant there was a possibility of people having voted at several different places during the same day.

"We have to consider the possibility that this kind of tampering took place, something that mars the quality of the process. As long as the picture is unclear on these kinds of issues, we can't honestly say this was free and fair," he said.

Both Cetro and JPPR have been commended by international groups as independent and non-partisan players in Indonesia's electoral process. Domestic observers said their assessment of the election was more reliable than international assessments. Mr Hadar also said that political factors – including financing – might have coloured foreign assessments.