Election watchdog finds 253 violations in Riau candidacies

Haidir Anwar Tanjung and Ni Luh Putu Trisna Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru/Mataram

Riau Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) has spotted 253 violations of election rules in the run-up to the 2004 election in the province, an official reported on Tuesday.

M. Saeri, the official at the poll watchdog, said that the violations consisted mainly of school diploma forgery and campaigning too early. The total 253 violations had been spotted as of Sunday.

"Some 60 legislative candidates, for example, have been reported to the police for campaigning early, while eight others were reported to the police for forging school diplomas," he said.

He added that the legislative candidates who had forged school diplomas could be sentenced to prison, as such an act could be construed as lying to the public.

Separately, in the West Nusa Tenggara capital, Mataram, 63 legislative candidates in the province were declared ineligible to contest the upcoming election.

The 63 were from a total 681 legislative candidates running for seats in the West Nusa Tenggara provincial council.

The decision to bar them from contesting the upcoming election was determined through a plenary meeting held by the West Nusa Tenggara General Elections Commission (KPU) in Mataram on Tuesday.

"The plenary meeting concluded that 618 legislative candidates had passed verification by the KPU, so they are eligible to contest the upcoming election," said chairman of West Nusa Tenggara KPU Mahally Fikri.

Of the 618 successful candidates, 466 are men and 152 are women.

Of the remaining 63, Mahally said that they were disqualified for a variety of reasons, including failure to complete administrative requirements set by the KPU.

In their candidacy applications legislative candidates are required by the KPU to include a photocopy of their ID card, a photocopy of their school diploma and a court statement that they are not being prosecuted or have already been sentenced.

Mahally was aware that school diploma forgery was rampant in the candidacy of the legislative candidates in other areas, but asserted that he had not encountered any instances of forgery in the registration of legislative candidates in the province.