Indonesian all set for historic polls<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Millions of Indonesians are set to cast their votes on Monday,
\nwhich for the first time will be cast directly for over 7,000
\ncandidates for the legislative bodies at the national,
\nprovincial, regental and municipal levels. A total of 148,000,369
\nregistered voters will also select 128 candidates for a new upper
\nhouse of the national legislature called the Regional
\nRepresentatives Council.<\/p>\n
April 5 will see the country's ninth election since 1955, and
\nwill be followed by the presidential election set for July 5, and
\na runoff in September if neither of the top two candidates
\nmanages to get a majority of the votes cast.<\/p>\n
The government decided on Friday that the legislative
\nelections, the first to take place this election year, would go
\nahead as planned on April 5 despite various shortcomings, except
\nin remote areas pending the arrival of the required election
\nmaterials.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman
\nNazaruddin Sjamsuddin said that in Papua province, the KPU would
\n"likely fail to hold the polls simultaneously" as preparations in
\nat least nine regencies were not complete.<\/p>\n
Nazaruddin said the latest operation to distribute election
\nmaterials, this time covering Maluku, North Maluku and South
\nSulawesi, was expected to ensure their arrival by 9 p.m. Delayed
\nelections can be held by the latest on April 19, or 14 days after
\nApril 5, KPU officials said.<\/p>\n
Fears of disturbances on Monday are now mostly centered on
\nthe fact that an unknown number of people will be denied their
\nright to vote, mainly because the Central Statistics Agency (BPS)
\nfailed to register them.<\/p>\n
Many among those who were registered have not received their
\nvoter registration cards while several foreigners and people who
\nhave moved to other areas have been issued with the blue cards.
\nThe cards were issued even to youngsters and the dead, as
\nhappened in Sampang, Madura and East Java.<\/p>\n
As of late on Sunday, residents of 32 provinces from Aceh to
\nPapua were putting the final touches to nearly 600,000 polling
\nstations, regardless of whether they had received all the
\nallotted funds from the KPU, reports said. Television stations
\nalso aired last minute information broadcasts on the intricacies
\nof how to vote, which ballots were valid and the tasks of the
\nelection officials, who will be hard at work from morning until
\nthe finish of ballot counting in the evening.<\/p>\n
Members of local polling station committees are also bracing
\nfor protests about unregistered voters. In East Jakarta, a
\ncommittee head threatened to resign following a circular from the
\nIndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) urging supporters
\nto come to the polling stations even if they were not registered,
\nAntara reported on Sunday.<\/p>\n
A deputy to the secretary-general of the PDI-P, Pramono Anung,
\nsaid the party had only "appealed" to unregistered supporters to
\nimmediately report to local committees and to try to talk the
\nauthorities into letting them vote even if they were not
\nregistered.<\/p>\n
The KPU had given until Saturday for unregistered voters to
\nreport to local committees.<\/p>\n
In Yogyakarta, thousands of ballot papers would not be used,
\nlocal authorities said, as it turned out that many registered
\nvoters were students who had moved to the city from their home
\nvillages.<\/p>\n
The decision to allow delayed elections in a number of areas
\nhas drawn criticism from various sides.<\/p>\n
This could be used to manipulate results or declare the
\nresults invalid, Golkar deputy chairman Agung Laksono said
\non Sunday. He called on the public to monitor the processing of
\nelectoral data at all levels. Golkar has also deployed its
\nmembers at polling stations, paying them between Rp 25,000 and Rp
\n100,000, he said.<\/p>\n
Co-founder of the National Awakening Party (PKB) Abdurrahman
\n"Gus Dur" Wahid demanded that President Megawati Soekarnoputri
\nand Nazaruddin publicly apologize for the failures that had
\noccurred in the poll preparations.<\/p>\n
He made the demand after a closed-door meeting of
\nrepresentatives from eight political parties at the PKB offices
\non Saturday evening. They said they "rejected" the government
\nregulation in lieu of a law that allowed the elections to be
\ndelayed in certain areas.<\/p>\n
Apart from the PKB, the party was also attended by
\nrepresentatives of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the
\nFreedom Bull National Party (PNBK), the Freedom Party (Partai
\nMerdeka) the Pioneers' Party (Partai Pelopor), the Marhaenisme
\nIndonesian National Party (PNI Marhaenisme), the Reform Star
\nParty (PBR) and the Democratic Party (Partai Demokrat).<\/p>\n
More stories on Pages 3,4,5,6,7,8,11.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesian-all-set-for-historic-polls-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }