KPU opts for electoral districts<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The General Elections Commission (KPU) is putting the legitimacy
\nof next year's polls on the line as it decided on Tuesday to
\nbreak the law to end a stalemate over electoral districts.<\/p>\n
Following a long-standing debate, KPU members ruled that
\noverpopulated municipalities or regencies would be considered as
\none electoral district although based on population they deserve
\nmore.<\/p>\n
The decision violates article 46 (2) of Law No. 12\/2003 on
\ngeneral elections, which stipulates that an electoral district is
\nallocated with between three and 12 seats at the provincial
\nlegislature.<\/p>\n
West Jakarta, East Jakarta, South Jakarta and the North
\nSumatra towns of Medan and Deli Serdang are examples of densely
\npopulated areas where the general elections law cannot work
\nproperly. They deserve 15, 18, 14, 14 and 15 seats respectively.<\/p>\n
KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said on Tuesday the
\ncommission was referring to the article 46 (1), which stipulates
\nthat an electoral district comprises a municipality\/regency or a
\nmerger of municipalities and or regencies.<\/p>\n
\"The article only allows KPU to merge several regencies or
\nmunicipalities into one electoral district, but not to separate a
\nregency or municipality into more than one district,\" Ramlan
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Ramlan said KPU realized that articles 46 (1) and (2) were
\ncontradictory to one another, thus choosing one of them would
\nsimply violate another and the law itself.<\/p>\n
The law gives the KPU the authority to determine electoral
\ndistricts for the House of Representatives, provincial
\nlegislative councils and regency or municipality legislative
\ncouncils.<\/p>\n
Ramlan said that despite violating the law, the decision would
\ngive all political parties, including the small ones, a great
\nchance to win seats on provincial legislative councils.<\/p>\n
KPU announced on Monday that 1,780 councillors in 30
\nprovinces, and another 13,525 in 410 regencies and municipalities
\nwould be elected in the 2004 general elections.<\/p>\n
The number of new councillors to be elected in general
\nelections is an increase from 1,455 councillors in provinces and
\nanother 10,495 in regencies and municipalities in the 1999 poll.<\/p>\n
When it comes to the election of the House of Representatives
\nmembers, Ramlan said KPU had decided that based on population a
\nseat equals 425,000 voters in Java, while outside Java a seat
\nequals 325,000 people.<\/p>\n
\"We made this decision as we considered that population above
\n600 people per square kilometer is a densely populated area. All
\nof those areas are located in Java,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Under a simple calculation, Jakarta with its 8.62 million
\npeople will be allotted 20 seats in the 2004 elections, up from
\n18 seats in 1999.<\/p>\n
But Papua with 2.4 million people should only get seven seats,
\ndown from 13 in 1999. Maluku with a population of 1.185 million
\nshould get four seats in 2004, compared to six in 1999, and South
\nKalimantan with a total population of 3.181 million should secure
\n10 seats in 2004 from 11 in 1999.<\/p>\n
However, since the general election law also requires that old
\nprovinces get the same number of seats they got in 1999, Papua
\nwould get 13 seats instead of seven, Maluku would obtain six and
\nSouth Kalimantan 11.<\/p>\n
Ramlan also said that new provinces Gorontalo, North Maluku,
\nand Bangka Belitung islands would secure three seats in the House
\nregardless of their tiny population.<\/p>\n
The KPU decision would be tried out with regional KPU in early
\nAugust to see how it works and would be opened to a public
\nscrutiny for two weeks afterwards, he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/kpu-opts-for-electoral-districts-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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