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The General Elections Commission finally named Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono president-elect for a second and final five-year term on Tuesday, nearly a month after announcing the final results of the July 8 presidential poll.

Abdul Hafiz Anshary, chairman of the commission, which is also known as the KPU, confirmed that Yudhoyono and his  running mate, Boediono, had met all of the requirements for the nation’s top jobs after a resounding win at the ballot box, securing more than 50 percent of the nationwide vote and 20 percent of the vote in at least half of the provinces.

“Candidates Yudhoyono and Boediono gained 60.8 percent of the total votes,” Hafiz said. “They also gained 20 percent in every Indonesian province. According to the Presidential Election Law, they have met all the requirements to be declared as the president- and vice president-elect.”

The KPU was forced to delay naming the official winners late last month following legal challenges from the losing candidates, former President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who claimed in the Constitutional Court that a number of problems, including a flawed final voters list and vote rigging, had made the results of the election invalid.

Although the court dismissed the challenges, it heavily criticized the KPU commissioners for their poor handling of the election.
The defeated camps on Tuesday reiterated their acceptance of the poll results.

Burhanudin Napitupulu, a representative from the Jusuf Kalla-led Golkar Party, attended Tuesday’s official announcement and said that the party had accepted the results.

“We respect the KPU’s decision, so we accept the results,” he said. “However, we need to highlight some notes about the election process, that violations were committed and that we need to improve it.”

Burhanudin said the public saw the election as a “total mess.”

“Compared to the 1999 and 2004 elections, the 2009 election was the worst,” he said.

Golkar has yet to decide if it will be in the opposition camp for Yudhoyono’s next term, although many analysts believe that the former ruling party will swing in behind the president-elect as soon as Kalla is replaced as party chairman.

Representatives from the Megawati camp did not attend the official announcement.

Arif Wibowo, a senior member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said that Megawati’s team did not receive an invitation, but that the party had accepted the result.

“The party’s chief, Megawati, previously said that she has accepted the Constitutional Court ruling,” he said. “The KPU decision is based on the court ruling. So, we have accepted the result.”

Marzuki Alie, the secretary general for Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party, asked that all parties accept the results.

“The election results have been strengthened by the court ruling,” he said. “It should be properly accepted with an open heart.”

Yudhoyono, meanwhile, speaking at a convention at the Jakarta Fair Grounds in Kemayoran on Tuesday, urged all parties to leave their differences behind and join together to further develop the nation.

“It is now time for us to reunite and rebuild harmony among neighbors, friends and everyone,” he said.

The president, who is expected to give his official acceptance speech on Thursday, said he was delighted to see the red and white colors of the national flag flying throughout the archipelago, instead of the various political parties’ campaign colors, during Independence Day celebrations on Monday.

“I was delighted to see on TV the red-and-white everywhere around the country,” Yudhoyono said.

He said that unity was key to building a successful pluralist nation like Indonesia, with its disparate religions and ethnicities.