President Grateful For Peaceful Parliamentary Elections

Jakarta, April 9 (Antara) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has expressed his gratitude to the executors of the ongoing parliamentary elections for the peaceful election processes. "About half an hour ago, I received a report from the national police chief that the elections across the country ran peacefully, smoothly and in an orderly way. We should be grateful for this, and as the head of state and government, I convey my gratitude and appreciation to the election executors - KPU, Bawaslu and security personnel, for having made this elections a success today," President Yudhoyono declared after casting his vote in Gunung Putri sub-district, Bogor district, West Java, on Wednesday. The success of the general elections 2014 will take Indonesia a step ahead toward a mature democratic nation because the 2004 and 2009 general elections were successful. Yudhoyono also reminded the nation that the results of the parliamentary elections, whatever it maybe, should be respected. "The result should be respected, believing that everything runs honestly and fairly. We should accept and respect it. By doing that, we (can claim to) have advanced political values and cultures," the president pointed out. He considered that the quality of post-election campaign activities has indeed improved. "We hope that political parties and legislative members could carry out their mandates. For those who are not elected, you should accept the results with open heart, there is still tomorrow to make improvements to be successful," he commented. Indonesians cast their votes in the parliamentary elections held simultaneously across the nation, which is the biggest democracy after India and the United States, on Wednesday. More than 185.8 million voters, spread across thousands of islands that stretch to some 4.8 thousand km from east to west, are registered to vote in the largest and most complicated single-day poll in the world. There are more than 545 thousand polling booths, which open at 7 a.m. and close at 1 p.m. across the world`s largest archipelago country. This year, 15 political parties, of which 12 are national and three are local, are participating in the elections. In the parliamentary elections, some 6,607 candidates were contesting for 560 seats in the House of Representatives (DPR). In addition, there will be elections to 132 seats of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) at the national level, 2,112 of the provincial parliamentary (DPRD I) seats and 16,895 seats for the district/municipality-level legislative assemblies (DPRD II). Results of the parliamentary elections are due on May 7 and 9.