Big parties would benefit from low voter turnout

JAKARTA (JP): Established parties and those with large popular followings would be the major beneficiaries of low turnout in the June elections, political lecturers warned on Wednesday amid sluggish voter registration.

Political parties who fail to reach out to prospective voters to urge them to vote risk losing out to established parties, Cornelis Lay of Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University said.

"Many who are confused about selecting one among 48 party logos would just choose Golkar rather than ones they were unfamiliar with," he said after addressing a media workshop on elections in Yogyakarta.

Poll no-shows will increase "drastically" under the voluntary registration system, he added.

However, Cornelis believed it would not significantly affect the elections and their legitimacy.

The response remained cool on Wednesday's third day of registration in Yogyakarta although officials said forms were distributed across the regency.

In Ujungpandang, political professor Kausar Bailusyi said parties with mass support and famous figures among their leadership would gain from low voter turnout.

The Hasanuddin University lecturer told The Jakarta Post that established parties also would benefit, but new parties relatively unknown to the public would stand to lose.

In South Sulawesi, he said, popular parties are Golkar, the United Development Party (PPP), the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), plus two newcomers, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and National Awakening Party (PKB), which have high-profile leaders.

"Leaders of new parties are not known to the public," Kausar said.

Their party emblems also remained unfamiliar to residents both in the capital and outside Ujungpandang.

Parties would waste their money in their election efforts, he said. He acknowledged a factor was the lack of promotion of voter registration.

Only about 30 people were registered in a number of subdistricts in Ujungpandang as of Wednesday. About 300 have registered in the Butung and Makassar subdistricts.

Unprepared officials, lack of information and apathy are responsible for poor registration numbers, officials and observers said.

Chairman of the South Sulawesi chapter of the Independent Elections Monitoring Committee (KIPPDA), Nasiruddin Pasigai, said many people wrongly assumed there would be door-to-door voter registration.

Neutrality

Despite the adoption of voluntary registration for this year's polls, the chairman of the General Elections Commission Rudini said officials would help in voter registration because of the short May 4 deadline.

In Surabaya, Antara quoted a political observer who warned the involvement of officials could be used to benefit particular parties.

M. Asfar of the Airlangga University, who has observed a number of areas since registration opened on Monday, reminded the public that the officials would be party representatives and village or subdistrict officials.

"If party representatives are lacking in one village, village officials will take their place."

Either way, he added, their neutrality could not be guaranteed.

Promotion of the voluntary registration was poor, he said, citing his two-week-long observations of the regencies of Mojokerto, Tuban, Sampang and Bondowoso.

In Maumere in Sikka regency, East Nusa Tenggara, officials complained they were waiting for registration forms on Wednesday. One subdistrict head said he did not know that registration began on Monday.

In Talebura district, about 35 kilometers to the east of Maumere, a housewife said voting was pointless.

"Campaigners just flaunt empty promises and forget us once they are in the legislature."

An 81-year-old man, Dominikus Jeng, said he wanted to vote but no Wairotang subdistrict official was handling registration.

In the South Sulawesi regency of Jeneponto, the Independent Election Monitoring Committee chapter reported that Golkar distributed T-shirts and flags through district heads.

The officials instructed village heads to distribute them to residents.

The committee (KIPPDA) said the practices were a concern because they were a form of money politics.

In Surabaya, the chairman of the Malang chapter of the Islamic People's Party (PUI), Aji Purnawarman, said he was informed Golkar was providing free ID card assistance.

Aji said his party was investigating the "mild" form of money politics.

Quoting people who claimed to have received the IDs, Aji said Golkar covered the Rp 3,000 administrative fee.

Malang Golkar officials denied the claim and said other forms of identification were accepted by voter registrars.

In Semarang, chairman of the Crescent Star Party Yusril Ihza Mahendra said he feared the public would question the election's legitimacy if voter turnout was below 50 percent.

He remained optimistic, however, that people would register if encouraged by political parties. (30/27/har/anr/nur/44/yac)