120 seats allocated for independent legislators
120 seats allocated for independent legislators
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The General Elections Commission (KPU) has reserved 120 out of
550 seats in the House of Representatives (DPR) for independent
candidates in the 2004 election.
The commission's planning bureau head, Suhaedy, said on
Tuesday that the seat allotment was possible as the country would
apply what was termed an "open proportional system", where people
would choose candidates and not political parties as was the case
in the past.
"People will no longer select the symbol of a political party,
but rather directly elect candidates presented by the parties,"
Suhaedy said as quoted by Antara on Tuesday.
Indonesia will for the first time hold direct legislative and
presidential elections in 2004, when voters will choose
individual candidates nominated by political parties.
The legislative election will take place in April, while the
presidential election is expected to take place between June and
August 2004.
"Those who are disappointed by the performance of the
political parties can vote for independent candidates instead of
boycotting the election," Suhaedy said.
The prevailing electoral law allows voters to choose
candidates other than those nominated by political parties, but
the independent candidates must be attached to a political party.
Suhaedy said the seats were reserved to accommodate a possible
increase in the number of people refusing to exercise their right
to vote due to a lack of confidence in the existing political
parties.
Many rallies, especially by students, have called on the
public not to vote in the 2004 election as none of the existing
political parties were competent to lead the country.
Commission members have been campaigning for people to
exercise their voting rights, arguing that boycotting the
election was tantamount to supporting the present government.
Public administration expert Noorsyamsa Djumara concurred with
Suhaedy on Tuesday, saying that direct elections were designed to
ensure that the democratic system would work in this country.
"Direct elections are supposed to bring the people closer to
their candidates," Noorsyamsa said.
Suhaedy, however, pointed out the two-stage electoral process
in 2004 would require huge amounts of money.
"For the ballot papers alone, we will need about 20 pages for
each voter as we have to state the names of the candidates from
at least 50 political parties," Suhaedy said.
He further disclosed that in the 1999 election, the total cost
of the election was Rp 1.6 trillion (US$195million), while for
the coming 2004 elections, the commission would need Rp 1.34
trillion just to provide the ballot papers.
Suhaedy added that for the whole election process from the
preparations to the resolution of any post-election disputes, the
commission would need around Rp 5 trillion.