Elections riddled with infractions, reports say

JAKARTA (JP): Reports of widespread vote-rigging have been flowing in to Jakarta faster than the notoriously slow returns from the June 7 general election, with the Golkar Party saddled with most of the flak.

Most common violations of the electoral rules include vote buying, government officials favoring Golkar, misuse of state facilities and intimidation.

Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) activists reportedly spotted an intelligence police officer, Zulfikar Basaudi, casting his vote in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra.

Under Indonesian electoral laws, members of the Indonesian Military and Police are barred from voting.

After voting, Zulfikar reportedly made a speech, encouraging people to reject the polls because he said the ink used on the ballots was substandard.

In North Mukomuko district in the neighboring province of Bengkulu, the Indonesian Election Monitoring Organizations Committee (Koppi) found five illegal polling booths which provided 500 votes to Golkar.

Koppi activists said the illegal polling places were initiated by district election committee members who sympathized with Golkar. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) is ahead in votes in the area.

Vote buying, the most common violation allegedly perpetrated by Golkar, is also reported to have occurred in Timor Tengah Selatan district, East Nusa Tenggara. Twelve Golkar district officials have admitted to receiving Rp 100,000 each from a Golkar legislative candidate seeking their support.

In Yogyakarta, dozens of supporters of the Democratic People's Party (PRD) held a demonstration on the campus of Gadjah Mada University to demand that the poll supervisory authorities disqualify Golkar and the People's Sovereignty Party (PDR) for alleged vote buying and misuse of state facilities.

From Palu in Central Sulawesi, Antara reported on Saturday that it found a radiogram from the Banggai regent here instructing officials to help ensure a win in the polls for a particular party.

It quoted the head of the provincial secretariat of the University Network for Free and Fair Elections (Unfrel), Iwan Gunawan, as saying members of the local election committees acted on the instruction by opening ballot boxes a few hours before vote tallying when witnesses were not present.

Unfrel also said in almost all villages several envelopes at polling stations in the Banggai islands were not sealed after the poll and ballot papers were not marked.

Iwan also charged the local Golkar treasurer of distributing Rp 5,000 to each resident in the transmigration complex of Toili VIII in Toili district.

In Bangket village in Bunta district, Unfrel said the key to a ballot box was being held by the police. Intervention of police in the poll process is illegal. Poll committee members except Gokar were not allowed to monitor the sending of ballot boxes to the district committee, the agency reported.

Iwan said the network would immediately report all serious violations to the official supervisory election committee in the province. It also will urge the committee to disqualify the parties from participating in the next phase of the polls, which is the allocation of seats following tabulation.

Unfrel did not approve of reholding the polls "because it will be the people who would bear the costs".

Twenty-five parties grouped in the Communication Forum of Political Parties in Banggai regency have urged the regional election committee to restage the vote in Banggai.

Forum chairman Basri Sono, a former deputy regent, said the forum found "strong evidence" of attempts at vote buying by Golkar and local officials.

The chairman of the provincial chapter of Golkar, Djar'un Sibay, denied the charges. Golkar was leading as of Saturday, followed by PDI Perjuangan and the United Development Party (PPP).

In South Sulawesi the Forum on Women's Issues noted various violations committed by different political parties, such as campaigning during the cooling-off period and money politics.

In a statement signed by Zohra Andi Baso, the organization supported the growing demand to repeat polls in South Sulawesi due to rampant allegations of vote-rigging.

In Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, the chairman of the provincial elections committee, Chris Boro Tokan, said on Sunday the polls could be repeated here if discrepancies found in tallying could not be resolved. However, the polls could not be repeated if they was held past the June 17 deadline when provinces are scheduled to announce their final results to the General Elections Commission.

Earlier, the chapter of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) protested the results, charging instances of vote-rigging. Boro Tokan told Antara he had received complaints from several parties about mistakes in the counting process and intimidation against election officials.

However, he said as long as the official supervisory committee and independent monitoring bodies did not report any indications of cheating the provincial committee could not decide to repeat the polls.

Apart from indications of vote-rigging, the PDI Perjuangan provincial chapter also reported the intervention of officials in the voting process and acts of intimidation toward people to vote for the Golkar Party.

"In the Teluk Mutiara district in Alor regency the number of votes are more than the number of voters," the party's chairman, Anton E. Haba said.

From Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, the University Network for Free and Fair Elections (Unfrel) said a volunteer found a village official had threatened to cut power and water supplies if people did not vote for a certain party.

Spokesman Iwan Rompo said the incident was uncovered in the Wangi-Wangi district in Buton regency where some 25,000 refugees who fled the Maluku violence cast their ballots.

In the same district in the Kapota village Unfrel also found that an elections committee pierced leftover unpierced ballot papers before placing them in ballot boxes.

On Saturday in Malang, East Java, the official supervisory election committee reported that two Unfrel volunteers tore up 123 ballot papers. The incident took place in Banbang village in Wajak district, Antara reported. However, the Malang elections committee said they were spoiled ballot papers not used in the polls, and that the case had been reported to police. (40/44/23/yac/anr/pan)