All 24 parties make deadline<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan and M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
All 24 political parties rushed to file their lists of
\nlegislative candidates with the General Elections Commission
\n(KPU) on Monday, just hours ahead of the midnight deadline, with
\nthe exception of PDI-P and the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party
\n(PKP Indonesia) which registered earlier.<\/p>\n
Parties delayed their registration due to the complicated
\nprocess of short-listing candidates and various difficulties they
\nfaced in obtaining the required documents.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the
\nIndonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKP Indonesia) were the first
\ntwo parties to submit their lists of candidates with the KPU.<\/p>\n
Apart from President Megawati Soekarnoputri's PDI-P, other
\nmajor political groups -- the Golkar Party, the United
\nDevelopment Party (PPP), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and
\nthe National Mandate Party -- also managed to make the deadline.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI), led by Megawati's
\nsister Sukmawati Soekarnoputri was the last party to register.<\/p>\n
PDI-P filed its list of legislative aspirants from 32
\nprovinces in stages, with 213 candidates registered on Saturday
\nand 402 on Sunday.<\/p>\n
PDI-P deputy secretary-general Pramono Anung said that of the
\ntotal 615 aspiring legislators, at least 168 are women.<\/p>\n
Among the public figures included in the party's list are
\nformer minister of the environment Sonny Keraf, TV presenter Irma
\nHutabarat, Taufik Kiemas' brother Nazaruddin Kiemas, and swimmer
\nElvira Rosa Nasution.<\/p>\n
PKP Indonesia registered a total of 230 aspirants from 32
\nprovinces. Noted academic Sri Edi Swasono, former director of
\nstate-owned electricity company PT PLN Djiteng Roedjito
\nDirdjosoesanto and former minister of defense Gen. (ret) Edi
\nSudrajat are among the candidates.<\/p>\n
Golkar, which arrived at the KPU building at about 10:30 p.m.,
\nregistered 660 candidates, more than 30 percent of whom are
\nwomen.<\/p>\n
Golkar's senior official Slamet Effendi Yusuf said his party's
\naspiring legislators faced difficulties in completing the
\nrequired documents such as medical certificates from doctors from
\nrecognized hospitals.<\/p>\n
Tough debate between executives of the Golkar central board
\nand those in regional chapters, and the difficulty in fulfilling
\nthe 30 percent quota for women, as well as efforts to accommodate
\nyounger legislative candidates forced the party to postpone the
\nregistration, he added.<\/p>\n
New public figures nominated by Golkar include noted actress
\nNurul Arifin, and former chairman of the Indonesian Muslim
\nStudents Organization (PMII) Nusron Wahid, Sahrul Anshori of the
\nIslamic Students Association (HMI) and Luthfi Iskandar of City
\nForum (Forkot).<\/p>\n
Ade Komaruddin, a Golkar Party leader, said the idea of
\nincluding the three students as legislative candidates had
\nstirred hot debate among Golkar leaders. But, the opponents of
\nthe idea were finally convinced that the inclusion of the
\nstudents could improve Golkar's image.<\/p>\n
New parties like the New Indonesian Alliance Party (Partai
\nPIB) filed some 284 legislative aspirants, and the Reform Star
\nParty (PBR) 294 candidates.<\/p>\n
The two voiced similar difficulties in obtaining the required
\ndocuments, forcing them to delay the registration of their lists
\nuntil a few hours before the deadline.<\/p>\n
KPU member Hamid Awaluddin said that there were \"internal
\ndynamics\" that made parties late in submitting their lists of
\ncandidates, such as conflicting interests among their executives
\nin assigning their candidates favored numbers.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said
\nparties that failed to beat Monday's deadline would not be
\nallowed to contest the 2004 elections.<\/p>\n
\"We have no plan to extend the deadline. We will stick to our
\nplan to close the registration tonight (at 12 p.m.),\" he told
\njournalists.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/all-24-parties-make-deadline-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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