Rally staged to protest violations in E. Java poll

ID Nugroho , THE JAKARTA POST , SURABAYA | Wed, 02/11/2009 12:23 PM | The Archipelago

Hundreds of people supporting defeated East Java governor hopeful Khofifah Indar Parawansa staged a rally in the city on Monday ahead of the inauguration of Soekarwo as governor.

Soekarwo and running mate Saifullah Yusuf are set to be installed as governor and vice governor scheduled for Thursday.

The rally-goers submitted their protest to the provincial police and the provincial polling body asking for an immediate investigation into alleged poll violations during the vote recount in Pamekasan and the revote in Sampang and Bangkalan, which they said contributed to Khofifah's slim loss in the gubernatorial race.

"Putting the results aside, we demand a free and fair election to build true democracy in the province. The police and the provincial elections supervisory committee must investigate the alleged massive and systemic election violations," said Taufik, the rally coordinator.

Protesters staged a free speech forum after they were denied access to the provincial polling body compound, which had been fenced with wire barriers and was guarded by riot police.

Holding posters and banners dubbing the polling body "fictitious", protesters slammed the polling body and the provincial elections supervisory committee as two toothless institutions that did not have the political will to investigate the poll violations.

Doni Adi Negara, a field coordinator of the rally and a member of the Patriotic Party, said Khofifah's campaign team had adequate evidence of irregularities, which included vote rigging and vote buying, during the vote recount and rerun, but that all sides, including the police, had turned a blind eye to them.

He threatened they would stage bigger rallies in the days to come unless the violations were investigated.

The rally dispersed after five protesters were allowed to file their election violations complaint to a staff member of the polling body.

On Monday, the elections supervisory committee reported a series of administrative violations during the vote recount and rerun to the provincial police for further investigation. Previously, the Constitutional Court had declined to accept them as they were deemed only administrative issues that could not annull the election's final results.

Meanwhile, the United Development Party (PPP) faction at the provincial legislative council protested at the schedule issued by the provincial legislature for the new governor's inauguration, because it was not based on an approval from the legislature's steering commitee.

Jamal Abdullah Alkatiri filed the protest at the provincial legislature's internal meeting to discuss the competence of structural positions in the provincial bureaucracy.

"Our faction agree with the inauguration of a new governor, but it should be done in accordance with the council's internal ruling," he said, adding most councillors did not know anything about the inauguration's schedule, set by the chief councillor for Thursday.

M. Siroj, a member of the council's Commission A for administration and legal affairs, said the schedule was established by the commission with the legislature leadership before the date was proposed to the President through the Home Ministry.

Council Speaker Fathorrosyid defended the fixed date of the inauguration and said invitations had been delivered to all sides to attend the inauguration ceremony during a plenary session of the provincial legislature on Thursday.