15,305 councillors to be elected next year

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A total of 1,780 councillors in 30 provinces and another 13,525 in 410 regencies and municipalities will be elected during the 2004 general elections, the General Elections Commission (KPU) announced Monday.

KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said the number of councillors for 27 provinces was decided based on a recent census carried out by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

However, the number of councillors for Aceh, Maluku and Papua was made based on a combination of BPS data and a projection as the census did not fully cover the three provinces, he said.

"This is the most accurate result since it is made based on factual data. The number of seats will be different from those in 1999; in 1999 the number of seats was based on a rough estimate, not to mention the fact that the KPU had to accommodate certain political interests instead of using factual data," Ramlan said, adding that the total population in 2003 was recorded at 214.56 million.

With the KPU announcement, people in some provinces like Jakarta, South Sumatra, Lampung and North Maluku would elect fewer councillors in 2004 than they did in 1999.

Jakarta, for example, will have 75 council seats, down from the present 85 seats, while the number of councillors in South Sumatra will drop from 75 to 65.

However, the number of councillors in Riau will increase to 65 from 55.

Aceh will have 69 seats, up from 55, while Papua will increase to 56 from 45, due to the implementation of special autonomy in both provinces.

The new province of Banten will have 75 seats; Bangka Belitung and Gorontalo 35 seats each.

Based on Law No. 12/2003 on general elections, provinces with a population size of between less than 1 million and more than 12 million will have between 35 and 100 councillors.

The law also stipulates that legislative councils in regencies or municipalities with a population size ranging from less than 100,000 to more than 500,000 provide between 20 and 45 councillors.

Ramlan said the KPU decision for the number of councillors in 2004 was final.

"KPU will still calculate the seats for new provinces and new regencies or municipalities that will have been established by September. We will not deal with regions that will be established afterwards. Those regions can establish their own councils based on another government mechanism," he said without elaborating.

Councillor seats at provincial level --------------------------------------- Province 2004 present --------------------------------------- Aceh 69 55 North Sumatra 85 85 West Sumatra 55 55 Riau 65 55 Jambi 45 45 Bengkulu 45 45 South Sumatra 65 75 Lampung 65 75 Jakarta 75 85 West Java 100 100 Central Java 100 100 Yogyakarta 55 45 East Java 100 100 West Kalimantan 55 55 Central Kalimantan 45 45 East Kalimantan 45 45 South Kalimantan 55 54 North Sulawesi 45 45 Central Sulawesi 45 45 South Sulawesi 75 75 Southeast Sul 45 45 Bali 55 55 West Nusa Tenggara 55 55 East Nusa Tenggara 55 55 Maluku 45 45 Papua 56 45 *North Maluku 35 45 *Banten 75 not available *Gorontalo 35 not available *Bangka Belitung 35 not available ----------------------------------------- *New provinces Sources: KPU and the Ministry of Home Affairs