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Indonesia's ruling party struggling to find election strategy

Presidential hopefuls, retired General Wiranto, left, and former President Abdurrahmann Wahid shake hands before a news conference to discuss Indonesia's parliamentary elections on Thursday in Jakarta. PHOTO: AP

Indonesia's ruling party is struggling to formulate a campaign strategy for July's presidential election as it faces the prospect of a poor showing in this past weeks' parliamentary polls, party officials said yesterday.

With 53 percent of the estimated 124 million votes counted yesterday, President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDIP, had 20.57 percent while Golkar, the party of former dictator Suharto, received 20.17 percent.

Megawati's party was expected to lose about a third of the support it won in the 1999 elections, held a year after Suharto was ousted.

"We need to sharpen our strategy. We are working on who and how Megawati can pair and campaign with in the presidential elections," said a senior PDIP official, Jacob Tobing. "The key is the right coalition. This is crucial."

One possibility being considered was an alliance between the two main rivals.

Subagio Anom, another PDIP official, said Megawati's might be incompatible with Golkar Chairman Akbar Tandjung, but might accept another Golkar leader as her vice presidential running mate.

However, Media Indonesia, a leading national daily, warned in an editorial yesterday that "to pair some of the candidates is like putting a lion and a tiger together in one cage," underlining that personality clashes and not political ideologies may block a coalition.

Meanwhile, Megawati's rivals -- including the predecessor she ousted, Abdurrahman Wahid, and ex-military commander General Wiranto -- were meeting to discuss ways to unseat her in the July 5 presidential elections. They were scheduled to issue a statement later yesterday.

In the July poll, Indonesians will get to chose their president and vice president directly for the first time. In the past, Indonesia's highest legislative body chose the nations' top leaders.

Critics said Indonesians abandoned Megawati's party because they were disappointed with her aloof leadership style, her inability to bring down unemployment and crack down on rampant graft.

Golkar is projected to finish four percentage points ahead of Megawati in the final tally, the Washington-based National Democratic Institute said, based on nationwide vote sampling. Golkar has traditionally reaped a larger share of votes from its regional strongholds, and those results have yet to be counted.

A final tally of Monday's parliamentary ballots could be delayed as 17 of the 24 parties contesting are demanding a recount after complaining that their representatives were not allowed to witness the counting of the votes.
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