Poll body told to educate voters about election<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Calls are mounting on the General Elections Commission (KPU) to
\neducate voters on the Election Law so as to avoid political
\nparties from keeping the old proportional electoral system
\nintact.<\/p>\n
Director of the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) Smita
\nNotosusanto said here on Sunday the general election system now
\nadopted the proportional system with an open-list of candidates,
\nwhich suggested that numerical order of legislative candidates no
\nlonger counted as it did in the past.<\/p>\n
\"The absence of information on the new system could be misused
\nby political parties. With the elections less than 100 days away,
\nthe KPU should disseminate information on how the new mechanism
\nworks within these weeks,\" Smita said.<\/p>\n
The general election is scheduled for April 5.<\/p>\n
The Law No. 12\/2003 on general elections requires voters to
\nmark both the symbol of a political party and the name of their
\npreferred legislative candidate. But the law stipulates a ballot
\nis valid if there is a mark on only the symbol of a party.<\/p>\n
The one man, one vote system is applied in the upcoming
\nelections.<\/p>\n
Smita said the executive boards of parties will use the
\nloophole to help only their loyalists win legislative seats.<\/p>\n
She therefore asked the KPU to clearly explain to the public
\nthe rule of the game, otherwise there would be many invalid
\nballots due to the lack of information for voters.<\/p>\n
Dissemination of information by the KPU on the poll procedures
\nis crucial, given the fact that the new electoral system still
\nbenefits legislative candidates placed on top of the list.<\/p>\n
Article 107 of the Election Law says that candidates will win
\nlegislative seats if they win a certain number of votes. If they
\nfail, the law says, priority will be given to those placed on top
\nof the list of candidates.<\/p>\n
M. Qodari of the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) concurred
\nwith Smita, suggesting that the KPU quickly start providing
\ndetailed information on how to cast ballots.<\/p>\n
Both Smita and Qodari said that the KPU's move to install
\nbanners in public places and place advertisements on television
\nwas not enough because they did not tell the public how different
\nthe 2004 elections would be compared to past polls.<\/p>\n
Qodari said that providing the public with information on the
\nprocedures of polling was more urgent than calling on the public
\nto participate in the polls.<\/p>\n
\"We estimate that public participation in the elections will
\nbe around 90 percent. Therefore, the KPU must start providing
\ndetailed information to the people,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Baharuddin Aritonang, a politician from Golkar, said the
\ncurrent system was unfair because to some extent it maintained
\nthe old practice that determined the elected candidates based on
\ntheir numerical order.<\/p>\n
Giving an example, Aritonang said that candidates who won
\n100,000 votes could be defeated by another with only 10,000 or
\n5,000 votes when the minimum number of votes gained (BPP) were
\n125,000 only because the latter were placed on the top of the
\nlist.<\/p>\n
Smita agreed with Aritonang, saying that the new system
\ndisadvantaged new political parties and minority groups.<\/p>\n
\"We predict that there will be more legislators elected
\nbecause of numerical priority rather than the BPP,\" she said,
\nadding that a popular figure may not be elected because he or she
\nfailed to meet the minimum number of votes.<\/p>\n
She said the system could reduce public trust in the political
\nsystem.<\/p>",
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