All 24 parties make deadline
All 24 parties make deadline
Moch. N. Kurniawan and M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
All 24 political parties rushed to file their lists of
legislative candidates with the General Elections Commission
(KPU) on Monday, just hours ahead of the midnight deadline, with
the exception of PDI-P and the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party
(PKP Indonesia) which registered earlier.
Parties delayed their registration due to the complicated
process of short-listing candidates and various difficulties they
faced in obtaining the required documents.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the
Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKP Indonesia) were the first
two parties to submit their lists of candidates with the KPU.
Apart from President Megawati Soekarnoputri's PDI-P, other
major political groups -- the Golkar Party, the United
Development Party (PPP), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and
the National Mandate Party -- also managed to make the deadline.
The Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI), led by Megawati's
sister Sukmawati Soekarnoputri was the last party to register.
PDI-P filed its list of legislative aspirants from 32
provinces in stages, with 213 candidates registered on Saturday
and 402 on Sunday.
PDI-P deputy secretary-general Pramono Anung said that of the
total 615 aspiring legislators, at least 168 are women.
Among the public figures included in the party's list are
former minister of the environment Sonny Keraf, TV presenter Irma
Hutabarat, Taufik Kiemas' brother Nazaruddin Kiemas, and swimmer
Elvira Rosa Nasution.
PKP Indonesia registered a total of 230 aspirants from 32
provinces. Noted academic Sri Edi Swasono, former director of
state-owned electricity company PT PLN Djiteng Roedjito
Dirdjosoesanto and former minister of defense Gen. (ret) Edi
Sudrajat are among the candidates.
Golkar, which arrived at the KPU building at about 10:30 p.m.,
registered 660 candidates, more than 30 percent of whom are
women.
Golkar's senior official Slamet Effendi Yusuf said his party's
aspiring legislators faced difficulties in completing the
required documents such as medical certificates from doctors from
recognized hospitals.
Tough debate between executives of the Golkar central board
and those in regional chapters, and the difficulty in fulfilling
the 30 percent quota for women, as well as efforts to accommodate
younger legislative candidates forced the party to postpone the
registration, he added.
New public figures nominated by Golkar include noted actress
Nurul Arifin, and former chairman of the Indonesian Muslim
Students Organization (PMII) Nusron Wahid, Sahrul Anshori of the
Islamic Students Association (HMI) and Luthfi Iskandar of City
Forum (Forkot).
Ade Komaruddin, a Golkar Party leader, said the idea of
including the three students as legislative candidates had
stirred hot debate among Golkar leaders. But, the opponents of
the idea were finally convinced that the inclusion of the
students could improve Golkar's image.
New parties like the New Indonesian Alliance Party (Partai
PIB) filed some 284 legislative aspirants, and the Reform Star
Party (PBR) 294 candidates.
The two voiced similar difficulties in obtaining the required
documents, forcing them to delay the registration of their lists
until a few hours before the deadline.
KPU member Hamid Awaluddin said that there were "internal
dynamics" that made parties late in submitting their lists of
candidates, such as conflicting interests among their executives
in assigning their candidates favored numbers.
Earlier in the day, KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said
parties that failed to beat Monday's deadline would not be
allowed to contest the 2004 elections.
"We have no plan to extend the deadline. We will stick to our
plan to close the registration tonight (at 12 p.m.)," he told
journalists.