Elections may fall behind schedule
Elections may fall behind schedule
Arya Abhiseka, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A General Elections Commission (KPU) member warned on Monday that
cutting budget allocations for the information system and ballot
printing would disrupt preparations for the 2004 elections.
KPU has scheduled the legislative election for April 5 and has
planned to organize a two-phase presidential election in June and
August next year.
The KPU member, who declined to be named, told The Jakarta
Post on Monday that the commission had decided to cover the
shortfall of Rp 40 billion for voter registration by reducing
expenditures for the information system -- installing computers
in all regencies to speed up vote counting -- and ballot
printing, by the same amount.
"At the moment, the commission is running a 'mission
impossible' task. Reallocation is not a solution as it will
hamper the preparation process for other posts," the source said.
The source stressed that even with an adequate budget, the
commission would still find it difficult to come up with the
results of the election on schedule due to the country's large
size and population.
"Look at the size of this country as 130 million people are
estimated to be participating in the voting process. It will take
more than a month to come up with the election results," he said.
Indonesia will have its first ever direct presidential
election in 2004.
There has been some skepticism over KPU's ability to hold the
presidential election on time as it leaves only a short period of
time until the inauguration of the new president in October, when
President Megawati Soekarnoputri's term officially ends.
The source said KPU would have a hard time meeting the
schedule as the two-month interval between each election process
was insufficient for counting the ballots, announcing the
results, ruling how many seats the parties are entitled to have
at the House of Representatives, giving time for parties to form
coalitions and finally giving chances for parties to campaign.
"On top of that, KPU must print and distribute over 130
million new ballots nationwide for the two-phase presidential
elections," he said.
New Zealand, a country of only about 4 million people, but
with more advanced technology and equipment, needs a month after
voting day to tally the results and count how many seats each
party receives in the parliament before the parties form
coalitions to nominate the prime minister.
"We will have to do all of that with a lot more people in a
lot larger area with a lot less technology and now less funding,"
he said.
Meanwhile, Yusacc Sos, KPU secretary, told the Post that the
general election should run normally in accordance with the
schedule.
"Each day we discuss the best possible solution to meet the
schedule on time," he said.
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General Election 2004 Budget (After Revision)
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Legislative Election Rp 3.023 billion
Two-Phase Presidential Elections Rp 800 billion
Voter Registration Rp 40 billion
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Total Rp 3.863 billion
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2004 General Election Schedules
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April 1, 2003 : Voter registration begins
April 30, 2003 : The formation of provincial KPU
May 30, 2003 : The formation of regental KPU
September 27, 2003 : Party registration deadline
April 5, 2004 : Legislative Election
June 2004* : First presidential election
August 2004* : Second presidential election
September 20, 2004 : Inauguration of Indonesia's new president
*prediction
Source: KPU