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Wahid To Quit Palace, Vice Presidential Vote Deferred
JAKARTA, July 25 (News Agencies) - Ousted Indonesian leader Abdurrahman Wahid agreed Wednesday to leave the presidential palace, ending a political impasse, but the formation of a new government was delayed further after a split vote for vice president.
The national assembly (MPR) election that was supposed to decide the vice presidential post left vacant by the elevation of Megawati Sukarnoputri to the presidency on Monday failed to produce the necessary majority for a clear winner.
Two rounds of voting that lasted late into Wednesday night narrowed the choices to two from the initial five.
The final round, held over until Thursday, will pit front runner Hamzah Haz, leader of the Muslim-oriented United Development Party, against former ruling Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tanjung.
Earlier Wednesday, Wahid, who initially vowed to stay indefinitely in the palace after accusing the MPR of illegally dismissing him, told television interviewers and visitors that he would leave for the United States on Thursday for a medical examination.
The support thrown to Haz Wednesday by followers of Megawati - who publicly distanced herself from the vice presidential tussle - was not enough to secure him victory.
Haz won the most votes in both the first and second rounds, but house rules require that a candidate win more than 50 percent.
MPR chairman Amien Rais late Wednesday deferred the third and final round of the election until 9:00 a.m. the following day.
In the first round, there were 613 deputies present, and four abstained.
Three candidates remained in the second round - Haz, Tanjung and retired general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who had garnered 122 votes in the first ballot.
Only 609 deputies remained for the second round, with Haz securing 254 votes and Akbar 203. Yudhoyono was eliminated after garnering only 147 votes. Three people abstained and two votes were ruled invalid.
Akbar, whose candidacy has angered some Indonesians because of his links to the former dictator Suharto, refused to drop out despite very audible "boos" when votes for him were read out during the first round.
"No, because I think it's a good reaction from our faction, 177 votes. It means the members of our faction are acting quite firm in following the instructions of the organization."
Megawati was absent during the vote, visiting her father's tomb in East Java.
Haz, an economist and veteran politician who has had two stints as a cabinet minister, has been an active politician since the late 1960s. His party is regarded as mainstream, and is the third largest party in the MPR.
An AFP photographer outside the heavily-guarded gates of the parliament complex said that before the election process began, there were as many as 2,000 student protestors, but almost all had dispersed before midday.
They were shouting slogans against the military and the Golkar Party in a bid to thwart the election of anyone identified with the Suharto regime, which was accused of widespread corruption and human rights abuses.
Meanwhile, friends and colleagues said Wahid would leave the Merdeka presidential palace on Thursday afternoon and leave almost immediately for the United States.
Wahid had been refusing to leave since his ouster, maintaining he was still the legitimate president of the vast archipelagos nation.
"Tomorrow at 4:00 pm, Gus Dur (Wahid's nickname) will leave the palace and head off to America," outgoing justice minister Mohammad Mahfud told reporters after meeting Wahid.
Wahid's official biographer said the ousted leader intended to return to Indonesia to unite civil society here to fight the resurgence of hard-line military figures in national politics.
Greg Barton, an Australian academic who has lived for months with the Wahid family in the palace, told AFP by phone from the presidential palace that the former president dreamed of being an inspiration and mentor figure for the masses.
"He wants to help the civil society get better co-coordinated," said Barton.
"Instead of having two dozen voices all talking at once, they (should) learn to sing as a choir.
"He will be a very important mentor figure and a source of moral support. His strength is in providing big ideas in terms of vision."
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