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.