Camelia Pasandaran – The nation's election commission officially announced on Tuesday that Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Boediono had been elected president and vice president of Indonesia.

Abdul Hafiz Anshary, chairman of the General Elections Commission (KPU), said that current president Yudhoyono had passed all the requirements to take a second five-year term in office following the result of the presidential election conducted on July 8, 2009.

Suripto Bambang Setiadi, Secretary General of KPU, read the decision letter. "We declare Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Boediono as the elected president and vice president from the 2009 presidential election," Bambang said.

Hafiz said that the pair had met the minimum requirement of obtaining at least 50 percent of overall votes and 20 percent of votes in at least half of Indonesia's provinces.

"Candidates Yudhoyono and Boediono gained 60.80 percent of total votes," Hafiz said. "They also gained 20 percent in all Indonesian provinces. According to the presidential election law, they have met all the requirements to be declared as the elected president and vice president."

Following the final ruling from the Constitutional Court, which rejected dispute cases from the losing presidential candidates Jusuf Kalla and Megawati Sukarnoputri, the KPU was able to proceed with the official announcement. However, the KPU has not yet announced the seat allocation for the House of Representatives following the legislative elections in April.

Burhanudin Napitupulu, a representative from the Jusuf Kalla-led Golkar party that attended the event, said that the party accepted the election result.

"We respect the KPU's decision, so we accept the result," he said. "However, we need to highlight some notes about the election process, notes about violations during the election, and we need to improve it."

Burhanudin said that the whole nation had noticed how the election was a "total mess." "Compared to the 1999 and 2004 elections, the 2009 election was the worst," he said.

Burhanudin said that Golkar has not yet decided whether to be in opposition in the next government term.

Meanwhile, representatives from the Megawati camp did not attend the result announcement.

Arif Wibowo, a senior member of Indonesian Democratic Party in Struggle (PDI-P), said that the Megawati team did not receive the invitation to attend the event. However, he said that the party accepted the result.

"The party's chief, Megawati, said previously that she accepted the Constitutional Court ruling," he said. "The KPU decision is based on the court ruling. So, we have accepted the result."

Marzuki Alie, secretary general of Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, requested all parties to accept the election result.

"The election result has been strengthened by the court ruling," Marzuki said. "It should be well accepted with an open heart."