Doubt cast over fairness of polls

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A former top official of the defunct Election Supervisory Commission (Panwaslu) said the central government should delay the country's first direct elections for local government officials because most regions still did not have election supervisory commissions.

Komaruddin Hidayat, former chairman of Panwaslu, said on Thursday the role of supervisory commissions was crucial for ensuring fair and democratic elections.

He said that of the 192 regencies and municipalities planning to hold elections in June, only 23 had set up election supervisory commissions, while 61 others were in the process of establishing commissions.

He said regions needed more than three months to set up supervisory commissions, pointing out that it required between four and six months just to recruit and train commission members.

Komaruddin suggested the central government delay regional elections by another four to six months.

Various regions in the country will hold direct elections in June for governors, regents and mayors. These will be the first ever direct elections for local officials and represent an important step in the country's democratization.

Komaruddin said some regions lacked the knowledge to set up election supervisory commissions, despite the availability of guidelines in the government regulation on regional elections.

"Many local councillors and political parties are not aware of this issue," he said.

Law No. 32/2004 on regional governments stipulates that local election supervisory commissions should be set up by local councils.

Komaruddin said there was also a question of the independence of the election supervisory commissions set up in some regions.

He pointed to the commission set up in Tolitoli regency, Central Sulawesi, some of whose members were believed to have ties with current councillors.

Panwaslu was set up before the country's first direct general elections last year. It was dissolved after the much-applauded presidential election was completed in September.

Some former Panwaslu officials set up an organization called Perludem, with the mission of monitoring elections and the democratization process in the country.

A number of experts previously urged the government to delay regional elections because of various problems.

The East Java Provincial Election Commission, for example, said some regencies and municipalities in the province only had one candidate standing in the elections, which was contrary to Law No. 32/2004.