Muhammadiyah holds off congratulating SBY
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 07/10/2009 2:57 PM
Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second largest Muslim group, says it will not congratulate incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) yet despite his apparent victory in the July 8 presidential election.
"We will congratulate him once the official real count results are announced by the General Elections Commission (KPU)," Muhammadiyah chairman Din told reporters after attending Friday prayer with presidential candidate-cum-Vice President Jusuf Kalla in Jakarta.
"We do not attend to the current quick count results because they are not official numbers," he added, referring to quick count tallies, which have shown that SBY may have won more than 60 percent votes.
The quick counts show that Kalla is far behind by gaining only around 12 percent of the votes.
"Pak Kalla seems to be okay. He can accept the defeat like a dignified statesman," Syamsuddin said.
"As for other election stakeholders who still feel cheated, they should go through the proper legal channel to submit their cases," he added.
While Kalla had personally congratulated SBY last night, the camp of Megawati Soekarnoputri from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), has not.
PDI-P executives are still disgruntled with the electoral roll mismanagement, which according to them had cost millions of voters their voting right during election day. (hdt)
