Incompetence caused poll delays: Observers<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Delays in tallying the results of the June
\nelections and disputes over vote-sharing agreements reflect the
\nincompetence of poll organizers, official supervisors of the
\nelections and political lecturers said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
They said separately that the incompetence of both the General
\nElections Commission (KPU) and the National Elections Committee
\n(PPI) was due to partisanship and a lack of technical skills.<\/p>\n
Riswandha Imawan, who teaches at Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada
\nUniversity, said the KPU and the PPI should not meddle too much
\nin the selection of legislative candidates. \"Let the parties
\ndecide on their candidates and the parties should absorb people's
\naspirations,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The prolonged debate over vote-sharing agreements,
\nparticularly among eight Muslim parties, was in part due to the
\nfact that the \"both KPU and PPI were not transparent about when
\nthe agreements actually took place\", he said in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
The agreements were initially said to be invalid because they
\nwere submitted after the June 7 polls took place. But
\nrepresentatives have said there were other agreements among
\npolitical parties which had been accepted after the June 4
\ndeadline.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta, the National Election Supervisory Committee
\n(Panwaslu), after a two-day meeting with 27 provincial chapters
\nwhich evaluated the polls, recommended that it be given more
\nauthority in future.<\/p>\n
Panwaslu itself has been criticized for being slow and
\ninadequate in supervising the polls. Members said they were only
\nauthorized to draw up recommendations.<\/p>\n
The supervisory committee also said the KPU's authority should
\nbe limited to only drawing up technical decrees. \"They should not
\ntake over the authority of lawmaking bodies,\" Ramelan Surbakti of
\nPanwaslu said.<\/p>\n
The KPU was frequently lambasted for suggesting changes in the
\npolitical laws. Ramelan also noted the KPU had violated its own
\nrules and had issued new decrees without canceling previous ones.
\nConfusion over vote-sharing agreements was also caused by related
\ndecrees.<\/p>\n
Ramelan also said the national meeting recommended the KPU be
\ntrimmed down to five or seven members.<\/p>\n
He added that members should be nonpartisan, credible,
\ncommitted to democracy and have sufficient skills.<\/p>\n
\"The members should be independent and have no links to the
\npolitical parties or the government,\" Ramelan said.<\/p>\n
The 53-member KPU comprises five government representatives
\nand 48 representatives of political parties. Legislators ruled
\nout the government's proposed membership of community
\nrepresentatives in the KPU. (05\/44)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/incompetence-caused-poll-delays-observers-1447893297",
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