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)