QUESTION OF ELECTION ROUNDS DEPENDS ON ELECTORATE'S CHOICE : LEGISLATOR

Jakarta, June 12 (ANTARA) - Whether the July 8 presidential election will be completed in one or two rounds depends entirely on the electorate's choice, a legislator said.

"If any of the presidential election campaign teams says the race will run in only one round or in two rounds, it is a very subjective statement and an attempt to precondition public opinion," Ferry Mursidan Baldan, a member of the House of Representatives (DPR)'s commission II overseeing among others legal affairs, said here on Friday.

Sympathizers of one of the presidential and vice presidential candidate pairs had placed an advertisement in the print media suggesting the upcoming presidential race would be decided in only one round, he said.

The advertisement was an unethical effort to mould public opinion in favor of the presidential and vice presidential candidate pair concerned, he said.

He said it was obviously the aim of each presidential and vice presidential candidate pair to win the race but they should strive to achieve their goal in a fair, elegant, and honest manner.

Under the existing presidential election law, the race could be held in up to two rounds, he noted.

Regardless of whether the presidential election takes place in one or two rounds, a president-elect and vice-president-elect must already have been produced at the latest 14 days before the incumbents' terms expire.

In the meantime, Muspani, a member of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), said the advertisement put out by the camp of one of the presidential and vice presidential candidate pairs calling for the completion of the election in one round was a move misleading the public.

Indonesia will hold its second direct presidential elections on July 8, 2009.