Count 'Em All
Politics is put on hold as Indonesia struggles to tally more than 100 million ballots
By TERRY McCARTHY Jakarta

John Stanmeyer--Saba for TIME

At precisely 2 p.m. Monday, Syafri Syarif declares the voting over at polling station No. 29 in the central Jakarta neighborhood of Kebon Kacang. As the ballot box is brought to his table, the retired office worker puts on his glasses. Syafri, 65, is in charge of counting the 446 votes that have been cast since 8 a.m. A crowd of locals gathers around the basketball court-turned-polling station to observe. When someone puts dangdut dance music on the public-address system, the scene resembles an impromptu block party. At 2:03 p.m., Syafri discovers he has lost the key to the padlock on the box.

And so it goes in Indonesia. More than 100 million people voted last week in the first elections since 1955 in which the results were not known in advance. By Saturday Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) was the clear leader, winning some 35% of the vote, compared with 20% for the nearest challenger, the ruling Golkar party. Although fewer than half the votes had been counted by then, Golkar's chairman, Marzuki Darusman, conceded defeat. Final results weren't due, however, until June 21.

Six hours to vote; two weeks to count. With numbers like that, domestic and foreign observers quickly began to cry foul. Many suspected that in the provinces Golkar was up to its old tricks: vote-buying, voter impersonation, "indelible" ink that washed off with water. And clearly there were some irregularities. Paradoxically, the main reason for the delay appeared to be the desire of hundreds of thousands of election volunteers--full of goodwill, if lacking in training and experience--to guarantee a free, fair and transparent poll. And that, as the confusion at polling station No. 29 showed, would take time.

Syafri finally locates the small silver key that he has put in a shirt pocket, unlocks the box and lets the ballots tumble out. Some fall on the ground; some drop onto the lunch boxes neighborhood folks provided for the election officials. "People are really excited--it is history, you know," says David Yulianto, 20, a computer student who lives nearby. "It doesn't matter if their party wins or loses--what matters to Indonesians is that it is free and fair."

Finally the tally begins. No. 15, Amien Rais' National Mandate Party (PAN)--calls out one of the counters. The other two take the ballot in their hands, hold the paper up to the sun to make sure the hole has been punched only on No. 15 and finally nod to the tallyman, who gives Party No. 15 one stroke on a chart that hangs from a fence. The crowd cheers. The second ballot is for "Tiga Tiga"--No. 33, Golkar. The crowd boos like kids at a Christmas pantomime when the bad guy comes on stage. By the end of the day, Rais' PAN has 158 of Kebon Kacang's votes; Megawati's PDI-P has 152; Golkar 52; the Muslim United Development Party (PPP) 27 and Abdurrahman Wahid's National Awakening Party (PKB) 13.

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