50 percent of preparations for president election complete
50 percent of preparations for president election complete
Moch. N. Kurniawan and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta
The General Elections Commission (KPU) said on Thursday that it
had completed 50 percent of the necessary preparations for
Indonesia's first ever direct presidential election in 2004.
KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said that among the
preparations that had been completed were the holding of a census
on eligible voters, the establishment of KPU branches and
Election Supervisory Committee offices at the local level, and
the production of ballot boxes.
According to Ramlan, the number of eligible voters was
recorded at about 142 million people at present, but this figure
would be updated after the legislative election on April 5, 2004.
"The updating of eligible voters is necessary to allow people
reaching the age of 17 to exercise their right to take part in
the presidential election," he said.
The KPU has also set up regional offices in 30 provinces and
416 regencies/municipalities to help organize the presidential
election, he said.
The KPU had been preparing ballot boxes and papers this year,
but would decide on the printing mechanism next year, that is,
whether all the ballot papers would be printed in Jakarta or in
the regions.
"Basically, we have accomplished 50 percent of the necessary
preparations for the 2004 presidential election," Ramlan told
reporters at his office.
Under electoral law, the KPU is required to organize the
legislative and presidential elections.
The KPU has announced that the legislative election will be
held on April 5, 2004, but it has yet to set the date of the
presidential election.
According to the newly endorsed bill on presidential
elections, this should be held three months after the legislative
election.
The bill also stipulates that the presidential election will
be carried out in two rounds if no candidate is able to win a
simple majority during the first round.
Ramlan went on to say that the KPU had to undertake various
other tasks prior to the 2004 presidential election, including
setting accounting standards for the financial statements of
presidential candidates and the distribution of candidates'
campaign statements during the second round of the presidential
election.
The KPU has drafted a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in
collaboration with the Indonesian Accountants Association (IAI)
to set the accounting standards for presidential candidates and
political parties.
"Once we sign the MOU, any public accountant can be appointed
to audit the financial statements of presidential candidates," he
said.
Ramlan also admitted that the KPU might have difficulties in
distributing the campaign statements of presidential candidates
in the second round across the country as the campaign would only
last for three days.
Concerning the delineation of electoral districts, Ramlan said
the KPU would leave it up to the public to decide to challenge
the KPU's policy or accept its decision to leave densely
populated regencies and municipalities intact as single
districts.
"We'll let the people respond to the policy as we warned them
about this matter before the policy was made," he said.
According to Ramlan, the KPU would go ahead with its
preparation schedule for the general election even if members of
the public requested the Supreme Court to review its policies.
Ramlan also called on the House of Representatives to complete
the proposed establishment of 25 new regencies in September to
allow the KPU to allocate seats to them.
"We cannot guarantee that the allocation of seats in the
regency legislative councils will be completed in 2004 if the 25
regencies are not formed until after September," he said during a
meeting with House leaders here on Thursday.