PPP cries foul in poll screening<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The United Development Party (PPP) criticized
\nthe National Election Institute yesterday for dumping 80 of its
\ncandidates for next years general election without a clear
\nexplanation.<\/p>\n
PPP Chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum said the institute did not
\ngive reasons for screening out 80 of the party's candidates for
\nthe House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
There is no transparency in the screening process, Ismail said
\nbefore addressing the congress of the Indonesian National Youth
\nCommittee. \"We have found irregularities in the way the screening
\nwas conducted,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The PPP originally submitted 850 names for screening to the
\nelection institute, which is run by the government.<\/p>\n
Ismail declined to speculate on the possibility of there being
\npolitical motives behind the institute's decision to reject some
\nof the names.<\/p>\n
He noted however that one of the dumped candidates had been a
\nvillage chief in South Sulawesi.<\/p>\n
A village chief, who wields strong influence over his people,
\nis usually required to join Golkar, the ruling political group.<\/p>\n
Ismail said he had met with Armed Forces (ABRI) Chief Gen.
\nFeisal Tanjung and had raised the issue.<\/p>\n
Feisal is also chief of the Coordinating Agency for National
\nStability (Bakorstanas), whose task is to check the political
\nbackground of all general election candidates.<\/p>\n
The agency can also issue documents which certify that the
\nbearer has never been involved with outlawed political groups,
\nparticularly the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) which was
\nbanned in 1966.<\/p>\n
The election institute yesterday announced the results of the
\nscreening tests: Golkar, the ruling political group, had 836 out
\nof 850 of its candidates pass the test; PPP had 774 out of 850
\nnames passed, and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) had 772
\nout of 903 passed.<\/p>\n
Sutoyo N.K., chairman of the National Screening Committee,
\nsaid some of the candidates were screened out because they failed
\nto submit all the required paper work. \"Some of them gave fewer
\nphotographs than required, others gave copies of requested
\ndocuments instead of the original,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He declined to comment on reports that some candidates were
\nrejected because of their political backgrounds.<\/p>\n
Sutoyo said that since political groupings are allowed to
\nfield up to 850 candidates, they could either resubmit names and
\ncomplete all the administrative requirements, or submit new
\nnames. They have until Nov. 30, he added.<\/p>\n
In the election, slated for the end of May, the contestants
\nwill be fighting for 425 of the 450 seats in the national
\nlegislature, the other 75 seats are reserved for the Armed
\nForces. Regulations state that each political grouping is allowed
\nto field twice the number of candidates as there are seats at
\nstake. (imn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ppp-cries-foul-in-poll-screening-1447893297",
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