2,926 reported poll violations to be probed

2,926 reported poll violations to be probed

JAKARTA (JP): The government promised yesterday to investigate
almost 3,000 cases of alleged electoral law violations which
occurred before and during May's general election.

The National Election Supervision Committee's chairman,
Singgih, said he had ordered provincial authorities to
investigate the claims.

The United Development Party (PPP) has reported 984
violations, Golkar has reported 1,572 and the Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) 370, according to data released yesterday
by the National Elections Institute.

The institute said 747 of the claims were on administrative
violations, 240 were on political violations and 1,912 were on
criminal violations.

The criminal cases include slander against President Soeharto,
the burning of ballot boxes on Madura island and rioting in the
South Kalimantan capital of Banjarmasin, which left 123 people
dead.

"We have agreed that provincial electoral committees will
follow up the reports and we will monitor the progress of their
investigations," said Singgih, also the Attorney General, after
the announcement of final election results at the National
Elections Institute.

"As for the cases that are political and administrative in
nature, we will hand them over to the National Elections
Committee for investigation," he said.

The elections committee's deputy chairman, Lt. Gen. Syarwan
Hamid, said the Armed Forces was ready to ensure the safety of
investigations into the alleged breaches of electoral law.

"We are ready to help the investigations without being
ordered," said Syarwan, also the Armed Forces chief of
sociopolitical affairs.

The National Elections Institute's chairman, Moch. Yogie S.M.,
pledged that the government would investigate fairly, even if an
alleged violation was committed by the government-backed Golkar.

"All reports will be processed," said Yogie, also minister of
home affairs.

The Moslem-based PPP has been the most vehement protester of
electoral law violations. Long before campaigning officially
began, it accused Golkar chairman Harmoko of campaigning under
the guise of meeting party cadres.

The PPP said that poll-rigging in this year's election was
worse than in past elections.

PPP chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum said at a ceremony to
endorse the final poll results that the party would wait to see
how the government handled their complaints.

Ismail said the government could no longer shut its eyes to
the violations. "Things are different now," he said.

PPP secretary-general Tosari Widjaya said that, despite the
party's endorsement of final results, the party would continue to
pursue legal action against government officials for alleged
electoral fraud.

PDI secretary-general Buttu R. Hutapea said this year's
election was "marred by widespread violations," and that the
party would pursue legal action against those who had committed
them.

"Our party's lawyers are studying possible lawsuits, but we'll
leave all these matters to our provincial chapters," Buttu said.

Golkar chairman Harmoko said it had been "a quality election"
but that violations, especially those related to riots during the
campaign, should be processed according to the law.

"They are purely criminal practices that should be thoroughly
investigated," he said.

Harmoko said he did not agree with those who said that the
reported widespread vote-rigging had tarnished this year's
election. (aan/amd)