Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono became the new leader of Indonesia

A day after &to= english.pravda.ru/world/2003/06/24/48603.html ' target=_blank>Indonesia's Electoral Commission announced that presidential challenger Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is to be the country's new leader, the transition process has slowed to a crawl because the incumbent has not formally accepted defeat. Mr. Yudhoyono says he will not start picking up the reins of power until he is given the green light. &to= english.pravda.ru/main/2002/10/16/38248.html ' target=_blank>Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won 61 percent of the vote in last month's elections and is due to take power in two weeks. The country is waiting to see who he will appoint to such all-important cabinet positions as attorney general, but the process is being held up because the incumbent, President &to= english.pravda.ru/main/2003/04/23/46301.html ' target=_blank>Megawati Sukarnoputri, has declined to concede formally that she lost. Tuesday was Army Day in Indonesia, and Mrs. Megawati addressed the troops on parade in south Jakarta. In front of a crowd that included her successor, she hinted at concession without going all the way. She said that whoever is chosen in a &to= english.pravda.ru/yougoslavia/2001/12/11/23417.html ' target=_blank>democratic election should be accepted by everyone, because such an election is a victory for everyone. Mr. Yudhoyono had scheduled a press conference for Monday evening after the announcement of his victory, but decided not to speak when it became clear that Mrs. Megawati would not make a statement. His camp gave no immediate indication whether it would take her Tuesday comments as the signal it needs to go full speed ahead towards forming a new administration. Indonesia has held both parliamentary and presidential elections this year, and analysts say that both were clear votes for change. Mr. Yudhoyono faces pressing problems, and perhaps unrealistically high hopes from the electorate. His promise to tackle the country's endemic corruption was popular with the voters, and one of his most closely-watched appointments will be that of attorney general. But that will just be one among 32 cabinet selections he must make, informs VOANews. According to ABCNEWS, outgoing President Megawati Sukarnoputri tearfully conceded defeat Tuesday in last month's elections, clearing the way for the winner to begin forming a new government. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had been waiting for Megawati to concede before claiming victory, respecting the decorum of Indonesia's fledgling democracy, despite his landslide victory in the Sept. 20 polls. The U.S.-educated retired army general canceled plans for an acceptance speech on Monday after the results were official released, as Megawati remained holed up in her residence. But Megawati acknowledged her defeat Tuesday in a typically indirect speech to thousands of soldiers at a parade ground in the capital. "Whoever has been chosen, we must graciously accept it, because the victory is a victory for all of us," she said to applause from those present, including Yudhoyono. Her voice broke up when spoke, and she sobbed. "We have succeeded in concluding a national task ... for the first time in the history of the Indonesian republic we have chosen a president and vice president directly in an orderly and safe manner." Yudhoyono will be inaugurated on Oct. 20, and markets and regional governments will now be anxious to see how he intends to lead the world's most populous Muslim nation. "Our big theme will be reconciliation and working together within democracy," he said in his first comments to reporters Monday after being declared the winner. The election was the first in which Indonesia's 210 million people voted for their president directly. The ballot was praised as a key step in the country's transition to democracy after the downfall of ex-dictator Suharto in 1998. Yudhoyono will be Indonesia's sixth president, and the fourth since Suharto. The scale of Yudhoyono's victory has been obvious since election night. Yudhoyono, who attended officer training college in the United States, won 60.62 percent of the vote compared Megawati's 39.38 percent in the Sept. 20 election, official results showed. A total of 115 million people voted. Media reports Tuesday quoted a member of Megawati's team as saying it had identified balloting irregularities, which it may use as the basis for an appeal to the country's Constitutional Court. Arif Wibowo acknowledged that the alleged irregularities in the polls, which were declared fair by local and international monitors, did not involve enough votes to influence the final result.

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