Friendly countries congratulate govt on successful election

Cikeas, Bogor (ANTARA News) - A number of friendly countries have conveyed congratulations to the Indonesian government for its success in organizing a direct presidential election on Wednesday, July 8, 2009.

"Six heads of state have sent congratulations to the Indonesian government for the successful implementation of the election," Presidential Spokesman Dino Patti Djalal told reporters over the weekend.

He said the six heads of state were those of Malaysia, Timor Leste, Singapore, Australia, South Korea and the Philippines.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also received a phone call from Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas who conveyed his congratulations on the success of the election.

With the telephone call from the Palestinian president, the number of heads of government/heads of state who had conveyed congratulations to Indonesia reached seven.

They are Najib Razak of Malaysia, Ramos Horta of Timor Leste, Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore, Kevin Rudd of Australia, Lee Myung-Bak of South Korea, Gloria Macapagal of the Philippines and Mahmud Abbas of Palestine.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) organized a presidential election on Wednesday. Three presidential candidates contested the race for the 2009-2014 term of office.

The three presidential and vice presidential pairs were Megawati Soekarnoputri and her running mate Prabowo Subianto (Mega-Pro), Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his pair Boediono (SBY-Boediono), and Jusuf Kalla who ran for president with Wiranto (JK-WIN).

Megawati is a former president and leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party - Struggle (PDIP) while her mate Prabowo is the chairman of the Greater Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party and a former commander of the Army`s Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad).

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is the incumbent president and chief patron of the Democratic Party (PD) while his running mate Boediono is a former governor of Bank Indonesia, the central bank.

Jusuf Kalla is the incumbent vice president and chairman of the Golkar Party while Wiranto, a former commander of the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) and chairman of the People`s Conscience Party (Hanura).(*)