Europe sending observers for the elections<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The European Union (EU) will send 120 observers
\nto watch over the June 7 election in the country, the head of the
\nmission said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
EU chief observer John Gwyn Morgan told a media conference
\nthat the European Community wished \"to assist Indonesia in
\nholding a free, fair and transparent election process\".<\/p>\n
Some 130 million people will go to the polls to elect 462
\nlegislators of the House of Representatives (DPR). The remaining
\n38 House seats have been reserved for military and police,
\naccording to the elections law passed late in February.<\/p>\n
Morgan said that 30 of the observers arrived last week and had
\nbeen deployed to 13 provinces. They will stay there between 45
\nand 75 days to monitor the whole electoral process until the
\nfinal vote tallies are published.<\/p>\n
Areas where the European observers would be based include the
\nstate capital, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, Medan, Pekanbaru,
\nPadang, Palembang, Bandar Lampung, Denpasar, Sumbawa, Samarinda
\nand Ujungpandang.<\/p>\n
Morgan said another group of 90 observers will arrive May 29
\nand will be on duty for some 15 days on or around election day.<\/p>\n
He added that there will be a total of 350 foreign observers
\nto watch over the elections.<\/p>\n
Morgan acknowledged EU's limitations in planning for the
\nmonitoring process and accepted that it would need to rely on
\ninformation from domestic poll watchdogs.<\/p>\n
\"We have a problem because of the sheer size of Indonesia. To
\ncover Indonesia and say we had a feel for how the election really
\nwent could not be done with the number of observers we have on
\nour team,\" Morgan said.<\/p>\n
\"We could not, of course, cover anything like enough ground,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
With 350 foreign observers, there will be one for every
\n371,000 voters in the elections.<\/p>\n
Morgan said that the EU has made available an approximate
\nUS$7.7 million support package, which has been channeled through
\nthe United Nations Development Program (UNDP).<\/p>\n
\"The deployment of the observers will be closely coordinated
\nwith other international observer groups in order to maximize
\nimpact and the geographical spread of the international
\nobservation as a whole,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Former U.S. ambassador to Indonesia Paul Wolfowitz said last
\nmonth that the Washington-based International Republican
\nInstitute (IRI) would probably send around 30 or 35 observers.<\/p>\n
He added that the Democratic Party would also send a
\ndelegation of about 40 to 50 observers led by former U.S.
\npresident Jimmy Carter.<\/p>\n
Separately, in the West Sumatra capital of Padang, Antara
\nreported that two Australian observers conducted preelection
\nmonitoring jobs from Monday to Wednesday. (byg)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/europe-sending-observers-for-the-elections-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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