Election committees invite complaints, objections

Election committees invite complaints, objections

JAKARTA (JP): Officials at regional and municipal election
committee offices across the country opened their doors wide
yesterday to people wanting to lodge complaints or raise
objections to provincial and local legislature candidates.

In Jakarta, residents are urged to scrutinize the city's
legislature candidates for the May general election and to lodge
any complaints in writing.

Flyers listing the candidates were plastered in many public
places, on bulletin boards outside committee offices in City Hall
and other offices.

"It (the response) should be written, complete with the
writer's full name and address, and it should not be slanderous.
The objections should be backed up with verifiable data and
facts," committee's secretary R. Bagus Suharyono was quoted by
Antara as saying.

The public can raise objections about the candidates from the
three political contestants -- the United Development Party
(PPP), Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) -- from
today until Feb. 19.

The Jakarta regional committee will study the complaints and
objections raised about candidates between Jan. 25 and Feb. 20.

The PPP named 119 candidates, Golkar named 120 and the PDI 117
-- all will vie for the 75 seats of the Jakarta provincial
legislative council. In Jakarta 7,453,416 residents are eligible
to vote this year.

In Semarang, the capital of Central Java, Deputy Mayor R.
Herdjono announced the candidates for the city legislative
council in a ceremony attended by local officials and
representatives of local branches of PPP, Golkar and PDI.

The PPP named 69 candidates, Golkar 72 and the PDI 65.

Herdjono called on the public to be brave and file objections
in an honest, objective manner and without malice.

"All complaints should be backed up with data and should not
be slanderous or made out of malice," he said.

During the 1992 general election, the Semarang election
committee received 51 complaints about legislature candidates but
only 31 were acknowledged. The others were dismissed because the
senders did not identify themselves.

In Denpasar, Bali, Governor Ida Bagus Oka in his capacity as
chairman of the Bali regional election committee announced that
the province was nominating 45 candidates for the House of
Representatives. Of them, 13 are PPP candidates, 18 are Golkar
and the remaining 14 represent the PDI.

Oka also announced the provisional list of candidates for
legislative councils at both the provincial and regency level.

In Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi, 1,010 cadres from
the PPP, Golkar and PDI will contest for the provincial
legislative council's 227 seats. Of them, Golkar named 454
candidates, PDI has 291 and PPP has 265 candidates.

In Riau, 72 Golkar's candidates, 52 PPP candidates and 42 PDI
candidates will contest for seats in the provincial legislative
council. (swe)