'I am disappointed with the results of the political process at the House although I, as a democrat, respect the process. Again, I am disappointed with the results and the process,' he said in Washington DC, United States, as quoted by kompas.com.

He said he was disappointed because the 10 points proposed by his party to repair the mechanism for direct elections of regional heads had been rejected by the House's members during the plenary meeting, which ran until Friday's predawn hours.

During the meeting, lawmakers from the Democratic Party decided to walk out because the 10 points proposed by their party had been rejected. Therefore, when the voting was conducted, votes from the camp supporting direct elections, which consisted of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Hanura Party, only totaled 135, which were far fewer than the 226 votes cast by the camp supporting indirect elections, which consisted of the Golkar Party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the United Development Party (PPP) and the Gerindra Party.

Yudhoyono previously said that he fully supported the direct-election system through a video uploaded to the party's Suara Demokrat Youtube account. His support was previously believed to have assured a victory for the camp supporting direct elections because the number of lawmakers from the Democratic Party totaled 148. However, the camp supporting indirect elections instead won the vote because the Democratic Party, which had publicly supported direct elections, decided to walk out. (alz)

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