800 legislative candidates may be disqualified from election<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
After conducting a second verification, the General Elections
\nCommission (KPU) announced on Tuesday that between 5 and 10
\npercent of some 8,000 legislative nominees were not eligible for
\nthe April polls.<\/p>\n
KPU member Anas Urbaningrum, who chairs the legislative
\nscreening, said most of the failed candidates were not registered
\nas party members, failed to submit wealth reports or had not
\nrelinquished their status as state employees.<\/p>\n
But Anas confirmed the KPU did find any candidates who
\nsubmitted fake school certificates as happened in provincial and
\nregental levels.<\/p>\n
He said KPU would allow candidates who failed to submit
\nphotographs, saying a photograph was not a substantial to bar
\nthem from running.<\/p>\n
Leaders of political parties will announce on Wednesday
\nevening candidates who passed the second screening.<\/p>\n
KPU will publicly announce the final list of eligible
\nlegislative candidates on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Anas said there was one party that had more than 100
\ncandidates disqualified.<\/p>\n
KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said the Prosperous
\nJustice Party (PKS) was the only one that had all candidates
\nqualified, but a source said there was another party which also
\nrecorded a 100 percent record.<\/p>\n
According to initial data collected from political parties,
\nthere were 8,871 legislative hopefuls registered with KPU, but
\ndata issued by the KPU media center revealed the number stood at
\n8,259 as of Dec. 29, 2003.<\/p>\n
The legislative election is on April 5, with the direct
\npresidential election first round on July 5, and a possible
\nsecond run-off on Sept. 20.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, KPU member Mulyana W. Kusumah said the
\ncommission would take over the role to screen legislative and
\nregional representative (DPD) candidates representing West Irian
\nJaya from the local KPUD which refused to do so.<\/p>\n
\"But we'll only conduct administrative verification on those
\npeople. We have no time to carry out full factual verifications
\nas on Feb. 1, their data should have been put into the ballot
\npaper along with the other candidates,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Based on KPU's latest data, West Irian Jaya had nine DPD
\nnominees and 492 legislative candidates from six political
\nparties.<\/p>\n
On Jan. 19, Papua KPUD sent a letter to KPU, saying it would
\nnot process the legislative hopefuls from West Irian Jaya due to
\nits busy schedule.<\/p>\n
\"Therefore, any activities conducted by West Irian Jaya KPUD
\nsecretariat is not our responsibility,\" Papua KPU chairman Ferry
\nKareth said in a letter.<\/p>\n
He said KPU had not yet sent a letter that instructed Papua
\nKPUD to screen the West Irian Jaya candidates.<\/p>\n
Separately, Papua special autonomy lawyer team led by Bambang
\nWidjojanto, representing Papua Provincial Legislative Council
\nchairman John Ibo, sent a second warning to KPU to annul the
\nlatter's decision on the establishment of West Irian Jaya
\nelectoral districts.<\/p>\n
Bambang also said that his team also objected to the seat
\nallocation for the West Irian Jaya Provincial Legislative Council
\nand Regencies Legislative Council.<\/p>\n
\"Under KPU Instruction No. 672\/2003, KPU allots 44 seats to
\nWest Irian Jaya Provincial Legislative Council, while the
\nprovince's population is only 567,894 people. This violates Law
\nNo. 12\/2003 on General Elections, which stipulates a province
\nwith a population of less than 1 million should be allotted 35
\nseats for the provincial legislative council,\" he said.<\/p>",
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