- Title: INDONESIA: INDONESIAN'S VOTE IN COUNTRY'S FIRST DIRECT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
- Date: 5th July 2004
- Summary: (W3) JAKARTA,INDONESIA (JULY 5, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. CHICKEN ON THE ROAD IN FRONT OF POLLING BOOTHS 0.05 2. WIDE OF POLLING BOOTHS 0.11 3. MAN VOTING BY PUTTING HIS BALLOT IN BOX 0.18 4. CU: VOTER INKS HIS FINGER TO ENSURE HE DOES NOT VOTE AGAIN 0.21 5. SCU: ANOTHER MAN PUTS BALLOT IN BOX 0.27 6. WOMAN INKS HER FINGER, MAN PUTS HIS LITTLE FINGER IN SAME POT OF INK IN FRONT OF ELECTION MONITOR 0.34 7. ELECTION MONITORS SITTING DOWN UNDER VOTING TENT 0.39 8. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO AT POLLING BOOTH AND PUTTING HIS BALLOT IN THE BOX/ HIS WIFE THEN CASTS HER BALLOT 0.51 9. CU: WOMAN WATCHING 0.56 10. WS: YUDHOYONO SITTING DOWN, SURROUNDED BY CAMERAS, REPORTERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS 0.59 11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO SAYING: "I am confident I could win in the first round and it means I could go to the second round" 1.08 12. INDONESIAN PRESIDENT MEGAWATI SUKARNOPUTRI WALKING AWAY FROM VOTING AND WALKS TO POLLING BOX 1.18 13. SCU: MEGAWATI CASTING HER VOTE BY SLIPPING IT INTO THE BOX 1.28 14. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AND FORMER MILITARY CHIEF WIRANTO WALKING WITH HIS VOTE IN HIS HAND TO THE POLLING BOX 1.48 15. WIRANTO MOBBED BY MEDIA TALKING TO CAMERAS 1.53 16. (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AND FORMER MILITARY CHIEF WIRANTO SAYING: "Hopefully we can achieve what we've been hoping for, a better condition for people's general welfare. Whatever the result will be, we will accept it gracefully" 2.13 (W4) YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA (JULY 5, 2004) (REUTERS) 17. MODERATE INDONESIAN MUSLIM LEADER, AMIEN RAIS, WRITING HIS VOTE 2.18 18. RAIS WALKS TO POLLING BOX AND SLIPS HIS VOTE IN THE BOX 2.30 19. RAIS SURROUNDED BY JOURNALISTS 2.35 20. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MODERATE INDONESIAN MUSLIM LEADER, AMIEN RAIS, SAYING: "To me, to win is something that I have been pursuing very hard. But to lose, to me, doesn't make any difference" 2.49 21. RAIS LEAVING 2.57 (W3) JAKARTA,INDONESIA (JULY 5, 2004) (REUTERS) 22. FORMER INDONESIAN PRESIDENT SUHARTO BEING HELPED BY HIS DAUGHTER, SITI HARDIYANTI RUKMANA, TO CAST HIS VOTE (2 SHOTS) 3.09 23. (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) JAKARTA RESIDENT, WATI, SAYING: "I'm happy that we are now able to directly voice our aspirations and choose directly the person we want to lead this country." 3.19 24. FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER OBSERVING VOTING PROCESS 3.25 25. CARTER WALKING OUT OF POLLING STATION TO TALK TO JOURNALISTS 3.32 26. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER SAYING: "We have been very greatly impressed with the orderly and very well planned of procedure that has been followed since this morning." 3.42 (U3) JAKARTA, INDONESIA (JULY 5, 2004) (REUTERS) 27. ELECTION MONITORS COUNTING BALLOT PAPERS AFTER POLLS HAVE CLOSED 3.47 28. CHIEF EUROPEAN UNION (EU) OBSERVER TO INDONESIA, GLYN FORD LOOKING AT ELECTION MONITOR CHECKING CANDIDATE LIST 3.53 29. CU: ELECTION MONITOR FILLING OUT PIECE OF PAPER 3.57 30. ANOTHER EU OBSERVER SITTING DOWN AND OBSERVING THE ELECTION PROCESS 4.00 31. ELECTION MONITOR WRITING ON A WHITE BOARD AS ANOTHER SHOUTS SOMETHING OUT AND EU OBSERVER LOOKS ON 4.06 32. (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF EUROPEAN UNION OBSERVER, TO INDONESIA, GLYN FORD SAYING: "The early reports, and I emphasised the early reports, polling itself throughout the country has been fine. There were a few delays apparently because both the voters and the polling station staff had been watching the football. But, there has been no threat to the election at this stage." 4.21 33. PEOPLE QUEUING UP 4.26 34. CU: NUMBER OF VOTES FOR EACH CANDIDATES ON PAPER, AS COLLATED BY THE ELECTION MONITORS 4.34 35. PEOPLE AT ELECTION POINT 4.36 Initials SEQ'S: 1-16 & 22-26 ALSO IN PROD 10011/04 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 20th July 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: JAKARTA AND YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA
- Country: Indonesia
- Reuters ID: LVA5C0FIXUCM7WVAFEHQT59FGWQS
- Story Text: Indonesians voted in the country's first direct
presidential election.
Indonesian voters in Monday's (July 5) first direct
presidential election looked set to throw out Megawati
Sukarnoputri in favour of a former general with a clean
image.
As the polls closed in the young democracy, the big
question was whether former chief security minister Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono would get more than 50 percent of the
vote and avoid a run-off on September 20.
The 585,000 polling stations had officially closed by 1
p.m. (0600 GMT) with unofficial reports putting turnout at
more than 80 percent of the over 153 million registered
voters.
Final results will not be announced until July 26, but
private counts considered reliable were expected late on
Monday.
Previously, a legislative body chose leaders in this
nation of 17,000 islands and 220 million people, about 85
percent of them Muslim.
Voters sought a president who would deliver on promises
to boost security and tackle corruption, both key planks
for Yudhoyono.
But with all the candidates drawn from Jakarta's
political elite, little divided the top four on major
policy issues.
None called for an Islamic state and some analysts said
the election underlined the compatibility of democracy and
Islam.
The vote followed a messy shift to democracy since
Suharto quit, a period marred by political chaos and
economic crisis.
Investor fears of election-related violence hurt shares
and the currency, but the campaign and voting were
peaceful.
Political uncertainties that have kept markets subdued
for much of this year may continue if no clear winner
emerges from Monday's vote.
Opinion polls ahead of election day showed Yudhoyono
with a 20-30 percent lead over his four rivals, including
Megawati, in the race to lead the world's most populous
Muslim nation, a front-line state in the war on terror.
Surveys show the 54-year-old Yudhoyono standing just
shot of a majority with many voters undecided. If none of
the five candidates in the fray wins over 50 percent of the
vote, there will be a run-off in September between the top
two candidates.
Speaking to reporters later at his home, Yudhoyono
predicted a tough run-off and urged all parties not to
resort to violence.
Speaking after he cast his vote at a polling booth near
his house in a suburb of Bogor, a hill city some 30 km (18
miles) south of the capital, he said he was confident of
winning the presidency.
"I am confident I could win in the first round and it
means I can go to the second round," Yudhoyono, told
reporters after casting his vote
With Yudhoyono the favourite, opinion polls show a
close battle for second spot between Megawati, former
military chief Wiranto and Muslim leader Amien Rais.
Megawati, who has often shied away from her public
role, declined to speak to reporters when she voted.
The daughter of Indonesia's founding president,
Sukarno, proved unable to jump-start a sluggish economy and
clean up rampant corruption during three years in power which have
seen
a wave of militant Muslim bomb attacks and
separatist violence.
Former military chief Wiranto said he would accept
whatever the people's will.
"Whatever the result will be, we will accept it
gracefully," he said.
Like Megawati and Wiranto, moderate Muslim contender,
Amien Rais, Indonesia's supreme legislative chief and
former leader of the country's second largest Muslim group
was lagging far
behind Yudhoyono. But they are within striking distance of
one another.
Sixty-year-old Rais was a key leader in protests that
sought reforms and helped force autocrat Suharto aside in
1998.
Those attributes along with a clean image -- and
tireless campaigning -- have helped him make up ground on
Megawati and Wiranto, with some polls putting them
neck-and-neck.
Once a leader of 30-million-strong Muhammadiyah, a
moderate Muslim organisation, Rais recently received a
boost when the conservative Prosperous Justice Party (PKS)
endorsed his
candidacy.
The Islamic PKS has impressed Indonesians with its
anti-graft platform. It won 45 seats in April's legislative
polls, making it the seventh-biggest party in the 550-strong
parliament.
Rais's National Mandate Party won 52 seats.
A prominent and wily politician, Rais could have a
voice in the government that ultimately emerges, even if he
loses. But some believe he will return to teaching if he
doesn't make it
past the first round.
"To me, to win is something that I have been pursuing
very hard. But to lose, to me, doesn't make any
difference," Rais told journalists after voting..
In a central Jakarta working-class neighbourhood, where
tiny concrete houses line walkways and narrow lanes, one
polling station had more poll workers in bright orange
vests than voters.
By midday neighbourhood officials said most of those
registered had voted, adding that the simplicity of the
ballot -- marking one name among five -- made for a fast
process with no queues.
Previously a legislative body chose leaders in the
nation of 17,000 islands and 220 million people, of whom
about 85 percent are Muslims. Some voters said they wanted
a president who would deliver promises to boost security
and tackle corruption.
In the old-money Jakarta precinct of Menteng, a
frail-looking Suharto, the autocrat who ruled for 32 years
before stepping down amid student-led demonstrations in
1998, cast his vote early.
If many voters say they are disappointed by Megawati's
government and seem ready to oust her far more said they
agreed with the apparent transition to democratic
presidential voting.
"I'm happy that we are now able to directly voice our
aspirations and choose directly the person we want to lead
this country," said Wati, a Jakarta resident.
Former US president Jimmi Carter, one of hundreds of
international poll monitors, was also impressed and
congratulated Indonesia for moving away from authoritarian
rule.
"We have been very greatly impressed with the orderly
and very well planned of procedure that has been followed
since this morning," Carter said.
The head of the European Union (EU) monitors, Glyn
Ford, said the election was going well according to early
reports. Only the observers were slightly delayed overnight
as many of them watched the final of the European Football
Cup in Portugal overnight.
"The early reports, and I emphasised the early reports,
polling itself throughout the country has been fine. There
were a few delays apparently because both the voters and
the polling station staff had been watching the football.
But, there has been no threat to the election at this
stage," Ford said.
Investor nervousness over possible election-related
violence hurt Indonesian shares and its rupiah currency in
recent months, but in the event the campaign and voting has
been peaceful.
Many supporters hope Yudhoyono, with a U.S. graduate degree, will
p
ut their unwieldy resource-rich country on a
firmer footing, create jobs and stamp out pervasive graft.
Some in the West see a Yudhoyono victory as
strengthening the war on terror. Hundreds of people were
rounded up and nearly 40 convicted in attacks blamed on al
Qaeda-linked militants when he was security minister.
But political uncertainties that have hindered
investment and kept financial markets at bay this year may
continue if no clear winner emerges at Monday's election,
forcing the run-off. Indonesia's election commission has
predicted a result could be known within 10 days.
A group of non-governmental bodies, however, will
release projections within 24 hours of Monday's vote.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None