PPI to begin ballot count immediately<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): After 10 days of uncertainty, the General
\nElections Commission (KPU) ordered the National Elections
\nCommittee (PPI) on Thursday to immediately begin the national
\nballot count for the June 7 general election.<\/p>\n
The decision was made in a rare vote during a KPU plenary
\nmeeting, after the commission failed to come to an agreement
\nthrough deliberation. All but three of the commission members
\nvoted in favor of an immediate ballot count, with two votes
\nagainst the proposal and one abstention.<\/p>\n
According to the KPU's internal rules, representatives of each
\nof the 48 parties contesting the elections have one vote, while
\nthe combined vote of the five government appointees on the
\ncommission are weighted to equal 48 votes.<\/p>\n
The plenary session, presided over by KPU deputy chairman
\nAdnan Buyung Nasution on behalf of chairman Rudini, produced an
\nagreement that while the national vote count proceeded, the KPU
\nshould simultaneously verify the accuracy of the ballot count
\nconducted by the PPI. The commission will use the C1 forms used
\nat some 320,000 polling stations nationwide to check the accuracy
\nof the ballot count.<\/p>\n
The KPU members also agreed the commission should at the same
\ntime settle all allegations of elections fraud and irregularities
\nin cooperation with the official Elections Supervisory Committee.<\/p>\n
PPI deputy chairman A.A. Oka Mahendra said separately the PPI
\nwould decide in a plenary meeting on Friday when the national
\nballot count would start.<\/p>\n
\"We held a meeting this afternoon (Thursday), but did not make
\nany decision on the initial day for the vote count because many
\nPPI members were absent,\" Mahendra told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The KPU plenary session was marked by protest when
\nrepresentatives of 11 political parties walked out of the
\nmeeting, saying the session was called to justify an unlawful
\ndecision.<\/p>\n
\"We cannot accept the session because it annulled article 62
\nof the 1999 electoral law, which stipulates that the national
\nvote count can only begin when all complaints of elections
\nviolations are settled,\" Indonesian Christian National Party
\n(Krisna) representative Clara M. Sitompoel announced.<\/p>\n
Indonesian Democratic Union Party (PUDI) Sri Bintang Pamungkas
\nwas also among those representatives who walked out of the
\nsession.<\/p>\n
The other protesters were the representatives of the
\nIndonesian Democrats Alliance Party (PADI), the National
\nDemocrats Party (PND), the Indonesian Muslim Awakening Party
\n(KAMI), the Democratic Catholic Party (PKD), the Democratic
\nPeople's Party (PRD), the Indonesian Workers Party (PPI), the
\nIndonesian People's Party (PARI), the New Indonesia Party (PIB)
\nand the Democratic Islam Party (PID).<\/p>\n
With the KPU failing to discuss disputed vote-sharing
\nagreements among political parties, several provincial elections
\ncommittees, including the committee in North Sumatra, delayed
\ntheir meetings on the deals until Friday.<\/p>\n
House seats<\/p>\n
Political observer Indria Samego lashed out at demands by some
\nKPU members that political parties which failed to win at least
\none seat in the House of Representatives (DPR) in the general
\nelection be automatically granted a seat in the legislative body.<\/p>\n
\"They (KPU members) make their own interpretations of the 1999
\nlaw on elections,\" he said after addressing a seminar at the
\nstate-run Institute for Home Affairs Administration in Sumedang,
\nWest Java, on Thursday.<\/p>\n
He said minor political parties were involved in a conspiracy
\nin their efforts to maintain their existence.<\/p>\n
\"They collude with each other for seats in the DPR, MPR or
\nother high-level state institutions,\" he said, adding that their
\nmaneuvers were immoral.<\/p>\n
The MPR is the acronym for the People's Consultative Assembly.<\/p>\n
A political researcher at the National Institute of Science,
\nIndria, said the government should issue a decree terminating the
\nmembership in the KPU of political parties which failed to gain a
\nseat in the House.<\/p>\n
\"It's not easy to kick minor political parties out of the KPU
\nbecause the 1999 electoral law states that their membership is
\nvalid until 2004,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Several KPU members proposed in Wednesday's plenary session
\nthat minor political parties be allocated a seat in the House
\nafter the commission failed to reach a consensus on the vote-
\nsharing agreement.<\/p>\n
\"This year's general election was a multiparty election, but
\nthe political laws fail to represent the wishes of the people
\nbecause the next DPR will only include a few parties,\" United
\nParty (PP) representative Mardinsyah said during the session.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta office of the Independent Elections Monitoring
\nCommittee also opposed giving minor political parties seats in
\nthe House, asking KPU members to focus on completing the national
\nvote count rather than promoting their personal interests.<\/p>\n
The independent monitoring committee also said parties which
\nfailed to secure a seat in the House should gracefully concede
\ndefeat and stop their political maneuvering through their
\nrepresentatives in the KPU.(imn\/43\/40)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ppi-to-begin-ballot-count-immediately-1447893297",
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