Legislators ask KPU to review seats allocation<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Legislators called on the General Elections Commission (KPU) on
\nWednesday to review its decision on the allocation of 550 seats
\nin the House of Representatives (DPR) in the 2004 election,
\narguing that the current arrangement was unfair to provinces
\noutside Java.<\/p>\n
The House seat allocation controversy revolves around the loss
\nof legislative seats for provinces split into two in the past few
\nyears.<\/p>\n
Provinces that had been partitioned are located outside Java
\nlike Maluku, North Sulawesi and Papua.<\/p>\n
Maluku, for example, got six seats in the 1999 elections, but
\nin the 2004 election it will get only three seats as it has to
\ngive three remaining seats to the province of North Maluku,
\noriginally part of its territory.<\/p>\n
Papua obtained 13 seats in the 1999 elections, but will be
\nreduced to 10 after giving three to the new province of West
\nIrian Jaya.<\/p>\n
North Sulawesi got seven seats in the previous election, but
\nit give three of those seats to the new province of Gorontalo.<\/p>\n
\"To avoid the current problem from recurring, KPU should first
\ngive old provinces the seats they got in the 1999 elections, and
\ngive three seats to each new province.<\/p>\n
\"The remaining seats then can be distributed to provinces to
\nmake a total of 550 seats as stipulated in the election law,\"
\nFerry Mursidan Baldan said after a hearing with KPU on seat
\nallocation.<\/p>\n
According to him, this method would ensure the spirit of
\nfairness for regions outside Java.<\/p>\n
During the hearing, Alexander Litaay of the Indonesian
\nDemocratic Party of Struggle, Thahir Saimima of the United
\nDevelopment Party (PPP), and several other legislators also
\ncalled on the KPU to review its seat allocation decision.<\/p>\n
Thahir even reminded the KPU that the House had stipulated in
\nthe election law that existing provinces must secure a similar
\nnumber of seats as in the 1999 election.<\/p>\n
The hearing was adjourned until Thursday evening to produce a
\nfinal recommendation from the House about the seat allocation.<\/p>\n
However, KPU member Anas Purbaningrum said that KPU could not
\nimplement such a suggestion because some provinces would get a
\nseat quota of more than 425,000 people per seat, which violated
\nthe election law.<\/p>\n
In order to secure a seat in the House, a candidate has to
\ngarner between 200,000 and 425,000 votes in the upcoming
\nelection.<\/p>\n
Anas said the KPU defined the existing province as stipulated
\nin the election law as a combination of parent provinces and
\nnewly established provinces.<\/p>\n
Thus, he said, Maluku in 1999 consisted of the present Maluku
\nand new province of North Maluku.<\/p>\n
Under such a definition, Maluku, which got six seats in the
\n1999 election, must give three of its seats to the new province
\nof North Maluku to meet with the election law requirement, he
\nsaid.<\/p>",
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