Democracy in Action

Posted by John
Iranian clerics horrified the world last month by stealing a presidential election through back-room maneuvers and state-sponsored violence in the streets. Today, Indonesian presidential election officials were in the streets of our neighborhood, but for a completely different reason. They were counting votes right in front of us.

Indonesia and Iran, two Muslim-majority countries on opposite sides of Asia, have had remarkably different experiences with democracy over the last decade. Iran’s theocratic regime disqualifies reform candidates from running before elections even start, while Indonesians voted for more than 40 parties during the legislative election last April. Iran’s rulers shut down reformist newspapers by the dozen, yet Indonesia’s press is free to investigate and criticize the government. And while Iranian officials implausibly awarded an election for an unpopular president a few hours after it ended, Indonesian officials remain circumspect about declaring the wildly popular incumbent a winner until all the votes are counted.

Watching that count begin at outdoor polling stations in our neighborhood this afternoon had a reassuring civic effect. Half an hour after the polls closed in our Setiabudi neighborhood of Medan, four election officials were sifting through ballots in plain view (see above). One worker opened them and searched for the tell-tale checkmark before announcing “satu,” “dua,” or “tiga”—numbers corresponding to the three presidential candidates. Another sorted the counted ballots into piles—with incumbent president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s stack quickly towering over piles for the other two candidates. A third worker marked the vote tally on a posterboard, with Yudhoyono’s tick marks wrapping into a second row while his rivals managed a few lonely scratches. A fourth kept track of the total number of ballots to ensure everything added up properly. Neighborhood residents, pinkies inked purple after voting earlier in the day, gathered around the table to watch the count unfold.

At first, Danielle and I kept our distance. We were curious about the vote count, but did not want to disrupt the process. Before long, some of the polling station volunteers invited us over, pointing to open chairs and offering us glasses of water. One official paused briefly from his count to smile playfully into the camera as Danielle prepared to take a photo. Compare this to Iran, were foreign journalists were beaten, deported and accused of inciting rebellion. Here in Indonesia, two uninvited election tourists were welcomed with open arms.

By the end of the hour, the count showed 206 votes for Yudhoyono, 51 for Jusuf Kalla and 25 for Megawati Sukarnoputri. At least in our well-to-do neighborhood, a natural Yudhoyono stronghold, it was a runaway win for the incumbent. More importantly, representatives from the three candidates’ parties had watched poll workers conduct the count in real time. For an emerging democracy, this kind of transparency can build meaningful trust in the electoral process.

Unlike the outright fraud and intimidation in Iran, the main concern about Indonesia’s elections involved bringing some semblance of order to a potentially chaotic process. Today, Indonesia’s 175 million eligible voters had all of six hours, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., to mark their preference for president at hundreds of thousands of polling stations on thousands of islands. As many as a quarter of these voters were disenfranchised amid procedural confusions during a national legislative election three months ago. These hardly sound like conditions to inspire confidence.

Yet voting appeared to proceed smoothly today in Medan. Indonesia declares Election Day a national holiday, meaning the streets were actually quieter than usual. Each polling station serves fewer than 600 voters, cutting down on potential wait times. These booths were well-staffed, with four to five election officials and a local police officer at each. So rather than seeing long lines in the world’s third-largest democracy, only a handful of people were voting in the ten or so stations we visited. In addition, voting took a few seconds since the ballot only contained the vote for president. The Indonesian government certainly set up adequate election supply to meet voter demand.

Problems with voting lists, which may have kept as many as 48 million Indonesians from voting in the April legislative election, almost threatened the presidential vote as well. Voting lists that are supposed to contain all eligible voters were not updated, leaving off names of people who had moved or married. Fortunately, all three presidential candidates agreed yesterday to a Constitutional Court ruling that allowed Indonesians to cast a provisional ballot as long as they show their national ID card. It’s far from a perfect solution, but it promises a far more inclusive election.

Of course, the candidates’ agreement about the voter list issue hasn’t stopped some of them from complaining. Megawati’s enigmatic running mate, former general Prabowo Subianto, made a statement this evening criticizing the voter list compromise and the media’s early vote counts showing Yudhoyono in the lead. He made the statement in English, presumably for the benefit of the international media that he hopes to set on edge. Prabowo also claims he and Mega are in the lead, even though most exit polls show them at less than 30 percent. No one shows signs of taking him seriously.

The Election Commission promises to certify the results by July 25, but we should know the final outcome much sooner. President Yudhoyono has close to 60 percent of the vote in initial national returns—less than the 73 percent he won in our neighborhood, but still enough to avoid a September runoff if it holds through the night. If they have to recount 175 million ballots, Jakarta’s central square would the perfect spot. We’ll be there with our cameras.