KPU demands election law revision<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Due to unresolved debate over seat allocations at the House of
\nRepresentatives, the General Elections Commission (KPU) demanded
\non Wednesday the House and the government revise the election law
\nwith a single purpose of increasing the number of House seats,
\nfrom 550 to a maximum of 560.<\/p>\n
KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said the KPU would
\nofficially file its request with the House immediately, but did
\nnot give a specific date.<\/p>\n
The proposed increase would make it easier for the KPU to
\nallocate seats for newly split provinces of Maluku, North
\nSulawesi and Papua, he said.<\/p>\n
Under the KPU decision that was based on Law No. 12\/2003 on
\nelection, the number of House seats allocated to those provinces
\nin 2004 will be smaller than those in 1999 as they have to share
\nthe seats originally allocated them with their breakaway
\nprovinces.<\/p>\n
KPU has decided that Maluku will only get three seats, a
\ndecline from six seats in 1999. Its remaining three seats will go
\nto North Maluku.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, North Sulawesi will have six seats instead of
\nseven, and Papua will get 10 rather than 13.<\/p>\n
The decision has drawn objections from legislators, both at
\nthe national level and from the three provinces, as well as
\nprovincial KPUs (KPUD). They have called on the KPU to change its
\ndecision and threatened to boycott the next elections if it fails
\nto meet their demands.<\/p>\n
KPU members Hamid Awaluddin and Mulyana W. Kusumah concurred
\nwith Ramlan.<\/p>\n
Hamid said the current seat allocation problem was the result
\nof the poor election law that failed to accurately tally the
\ncountry's population.<\/p>\n
\"There is no better alternative to resolve this problem than
\nraising the number of the House seats, from 550 to a maximum
\nlevel of 560,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"By doing this, there will be no need to move seats from other
\nprovinces to the three provinces (Maluku, North Sulawesi and
\nPapua) as it will only create new political disputes.\"<\/p>\n
Besides, he said, a Supreme Court justice had cautioned the
\nKPU not to breach the article on the number of House seats.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Mulyana said that revising an article on the total
\nnumber of House seats would be better than amending an article on
\nthe House seat quota, which now ranges between 325,000 and
\n425,000 people per seat.<\/p>\n
If the quota on House seats is increased, the KPU will still
\nbe forced to make a new calculation on the seat distribution to
\nall provinces, Mulyana said.<\/p>\n
He went on to say that several years ago the House revised an
\narticle on the General Elections Commission in Law No. 3\/1999 on
\nelections.<\/p>\n
The revised article states that the new general elections
\ncommission would consist of 11 members instead of 48 political
\nparty representatives and five government representatives in the
\nprevious commission.<\/p>\n
\"So, such a revision works and does not take a long time to
\ncomplete,\" he added.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the KPU also divided the country's 32 provinces
\ninto 69 electoral districts to be allocated with the 550 seats at
\nthe House.<\/p>\n
It also decided to merge 416 regencies\/municipalities across
\nthe country into 200 electoral districts for the Provincial
\nLegislative Council. But the commission has yet to finish the
\nmapping of electoral districts for the Regency Legislative
\nCouncil.<\/p>\n
Another KPU member, Anas Urbaningrum, said the KPU would
\nofficially announce the final results on Friday.<\/p>",
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