Doubt cast over fairness of polls

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.