KPU set to ratify poll results<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The General Elections Commission (KPU) needs
\nanother week to check reports before it can declare the results
\nof the June 7 elections valid, according to chairman Rudini.<\/p>\n
Rudini told the media on Monday he had urged commission
\nmembers to cooperate so the poll results could be validated
\nbefore July 26. The vote count was completed and endorsed on
\nSaturday by the National Elections Committee (PPI); then, the KPU
\nand the Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) hinted they
\nwould soon follow suit and endorse the poll results.<\/p>\n
Rudini described a number of unfinished tasks including the
\ncommission's \"Team of Eleven\" established recently to investigate
\nreports of electoral violations.<\/p>\n
The commission is also waiting for a report from another team
\nthat is responsible for \"verifying the accuracy of the national
\nvote count\" completed by the National Elections Committee (PPI).<\/p>\n
Chairman of the verification team Nurdin Purnomo earlier told
\nthe commission's plenary meeting his members had so far only
\nverified the poll results in 13,034 polling stations.<\/p>\n
Voting took place in 300,124 polling stations nationwide and
\n108 overseas polling places.<\/p>\n
In addition, Rudini said, the commission had written to
\nPresident B.J. Habibie requesting a solution for the 13 million
\nvoters for small parties that had failed to secure a seat at the
\nHouse of Representatives. Some observers have decried the \"waste\"
\nof votes due to the parties not establishing vote-pooling
\nagreements beforehand.<\/p>\n
\"The aspiration of the 13 million voters should be
\naccommodated in the DPR (House of Representatives). And it's up
\nto the government to decide,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Interest groups<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, slow tallying of the poll results was blamed for
\nthe delayed distribution of the 700 seats for the People's
\nConsultative Assembly (MPR), Indonesia's highest law-making body,
\nwhich will elect the new president.<\/p>\n
As of Monday, the KPU had only decided to allocate one seat to
\nrepresent Chinese Indonesians. He or she will join 64 others
\ntasked with representing the interests of various groups at the
\nMPR.<\/p>\n
The KPU has received numerous applications for the seats.<\/p>\n
In a related development, dozens of activists from the West
\nJava office of the Muslim Students Association (HMI) held a
\ndemonstration on Monday on the second floor of the commission's
\noffice, protesting the allocation of seats for student
\nrepresentatives in the MPR.<\/p>\n
\"A student representation in the MPR will only hamper the
\nstudents' campaign for reforms,\" said the students in their
\nstatement.<\/p>\n
\"An allocated MPR seat for students is part of the political
\nelite's efforts to stifle our critical stance over the ruling
\npower.\"<\/p>\n
The students also demanded that political parties that had
\nfailed to secure seats in the House of Representatives resign
\nfrom the KPU.<\/p>\n
In Yogyakarta, the Association of Lawyers and Law
\nPractitioners (PAPI) campaigned to have noted lawyer Adnan Buyung
\nNasution represent them in the MPR.<\/p>\n
Also in Yogyakarta, some 450 farmers demanded on Monday that
\nfarmers be represented in the new MPR, saying that the Assembly
\nwas the arena for them to campaign to improve their welfare.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, constitutional law expert Harun Alrasid and
\npolitical observer Arbi Sanit called for an amendment to the 1945
\nConstitution to empower regional representatives in the MPR.<\/p>\n
\"The Assembly should consist of the DPR and the regional
\nrepresentatives, all of whose members should be elected rather
\nthan appointed,\" Harun said. He referred to the bicameral system
\n-- the House of Representatives and the Senate -- in the United
\nStates' parliamentary system.<\/p>\n
\"With the bicameral system, the regional representatives will
\nstruggle for their constituents' interests, effectively control
\nthe government and actively participate in the House's
\nlegislating tasks, as well as maintain the national unity.<\/p>\n
\"The fact that certain regions have asked for separation from
\nthe republic has much to do with our failure to channel their
\ninterests,\" Harun, who recently resigned from the KPU, said.<\/p>\n
Arbi of the University of Indonesia's School of Politics said
\nit would be difficult for the new provincial legislatures to
\nelect the regional representatives as the regional
\nrepresentatives were also representatives of their own parties.<\/p>\n
He said that with the current system, the military will still
\nbe represented in the regional representative faction since 10
\npercent of the provincial legislature members will be military
\npersonnel.<\/p>\n
Each of the 27 provinces will have five representatives in the
\nnew MPR, elected by provincial legislatures.(rms\/44\/imn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/kpu-set-to-ratify-poll-results-1447893297",
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