Indonesian President B.J. Habibie appealed to the country's fractious small political parties yesterday to ratify the results of elections on June 7th or risk derailing the country's journey to democracy.
In an unprecedented late-night televised speech, Mr Habibie said the 27 small parties which had refused to ratify the results were jeopardising the lives of their children and grandchildren.
"I trust that as patriots those who have not yet signed today will reconsider their position," he said.
Two hours previously the independent election commission (KPU) reported to him its failure to ratify the results of the freest Indonesian election in decades.
The commission's failure added to the growing political uncertainty in Indonesia, struggling to find its feet after the fall of President Suharto last year, and emerge from a crippling economic crisis.
News of the impasse sent stock prices into a tailspin on the Jakarta exchange. The index closed down 5.3 per cent at 592.721.
The election commission chairman, Mr Rudini, said he had left the decision on how to resolve the impasse to Mr Habibie. Mr Habibie in turn had told him he could not make an instant decision, but would give the small parties a week to air their complaints.
The major parties contesting the poll, he said, had between them won 93.3 per cent of the vote in June, and had ratified the results.
"This is the first election since 1955 which has been really honest, democratic and fair," he continued. "The fate of our children and grandchildren is heavily dependent on what we do now . . . please abandon all excesses from the dynamics of the campaign and post-election period."
The opposition Indonesian Democracy Party-Struggle (PDIP) of Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri was placed first in the polls with 33.7 per cent of the vote, trailed by the ruling Golkar Party. However, the People's Consultative Assembly, which meets in November to select a new president and vice-president, is not bound to follow the poll results.