Campaign countdown to start next March: KPU
Campaign countdown to start next March: KPU
Arya Abhiseka, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The General Elections Commission (KPU) announced on Tuesday the
campaign period ahead of the upcoming legislative election would
take place between March 11 and April 1, 2004.
The KPU is also mandated to ensure that the election campaign
runs in a peaceful, educative and well-organized manner and that
clashes involving racial or religious issues are avoided.
"We will look into cooperating with the police force to
provide security during the campaign," KPU deputy chairman Ramlan
Surbakti said here.
The KPU will announce the parties qualifying for the 2004
legislative election on Dec. 8 this year. The announcement will
follow party verification by the Ministry of Justice and Human
Rights, which the KPU says will finish on Oct. 27.
During the campaign period, all eligible parties will be
allowed to hold campaign rallies. The KPU will organize the
schedule for each party to campaign.
"We are also looking into cooperation with regional
governments and the media to monitor campaign equipment and
political advertisements in the media," he said.
The country's first-ever direct elections will begin
nationwide on April 5 next year for the legislative election to
be followed by a presidential election in which some 130 million
voters are expected to participate.
On a separate note, KPU plans to send more voter registration
forms to several regions that have complained of a shortage of
forms.
"We have printed the additional registration forms to be sent
to about 22 regions. We will allocate about Rp 950 million
(US$106,741) from our current budget," Ramlan said, however he
declined to reveal from where he would obtain the money.
The lack of registration forms is among several problems
facing the voter registration process as earlier the commission's
partner, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) had signaled a delay
in its deadline of April 30.
Previously, the BPS revealed that unofficial field officers
were conducting voter registration, creating confusion among the
BPS and the public. The BPS predicted that the voter registration
process would be delayed by about two weeks due to the duplicate
entries by the trained and untrained officers.
The KPU is still convinced that the election will run
according to plan. "Everything is subject to changes and
adjustments. However, the election will proceed within its
planned time frame," Ramlan said.
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KPU Timetable for the Legislative Elections, April 5, 2004
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1. Party verification process July 9 - Oct. 9, 2003
2. Aggregation process for
parliamentary seats July 8 - July 28, 2003
3. Announcement and draw of eligible
parties ballot numbers Dec. 8, 2003
4. Political campaign period March 11 - April 1, 2004
5. Cooling-off period April 2 - April 4, 2004
6. Legislative election day*
(8 a.m. until 2 p.m.) April 5, 2004
7. Announcement of
the election result April 21 - April 30, 2004
8. Inauguration of new members
of the House of Representatives
-Regental House members July 2004
-Provincial House members August 2004
-House of Representatives members
and Regional Representatives Council September 2004
*national holiday
Source: KPU
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