EU and TI plan to monitor elections
EU and TI plan to monitor elections
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A number of foreign poll watchdogs have expressed interest in
monitoring the 2004 elections, a General Elections Commission
(KPU) member says.
Valina Singka Subekti, head of the KPU team responsible for
the accreditation of poll monitors, said on Tuesday that the
European Union (EU) and Transparency International (TI) had
expressed their intention to monitor this year's elections.
"EU is interested in monitoring this year's elections as the
2004 elections will follow a new format, namely an open
proportional election and direct presidential election," Valina
said.
Secretary-general of TI Indonesia, Emmy Hafild said earlier
that her organization was interested in monitoring the campaign
funds of political parties.
Separately, KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said that
there was a possibility that the Carter Center of the United
States would register to monitor the elections.
According to Ramlan, Dwight King of the Carter Center was now
in Indonesia to, among other things, ask about the possibility of
monitoring the upcoming elections.
The country will hold the legislative election on April 5, and
presidential election on July 5. Should the July election fail to
produce a clear winner, a second round of the presidential
election would be organized for September. A total of 24
political parties will participate in the legislative election.
Based on KPU's technical guidelines on election monitoring,
issued last Friday, local and foreign organizations, foreign
legislative bodies, foreign governments, foreign elections
commissions, foreign political parties, local and foreign
research institutes, and international organizations may register
with KPU to monitor the elections.
According to Valina, all poll watchdogs must meet three
requirements -- to be independent, have clear financial
resources, and gain accreditation from KPU.
Additional requirements include experiences in monitoring
elections, the provision of a list of executive board members,
and a list of the organization's members.
Foreign poll watchdogs can register with Indonesian embassies
overseas or with KPU.
"We try not to make the requirements difficult to fulfill,"
she said.
She added that the extra prerequisites were only a requirement
as they added information to KPU's database on poll monitors.
According to KPU guidelines, foreign poll monitors will be
given visas and access to all areas of Indonesia. They will have
the right to security and legal protection (provided by the
Indonesian government), to monitor and collect information at any
stage of the elections and to access the poll stations on
election days.
Valina further said local poll watchdogs, such as the
Independent Committee for Election Monitoring (KIPP), Forum
Rektor, and the Indonesian Muslim Association (HMI) have also
expressed their intention of monitoring the 2004 elections.
"But let's see tomorrow (Wednesday) when the registration
period starts," she said.
Separately, KIPP executive director Ray Rangkuti complained on
Tuesday of the difficulty in gaining accreditation from KPU.
Among the requirements for accreditation are experiences in
monitoring elections and photographs of members.
Rangkuti said the requirements had only discouraged new
organizations from registering with KPU.
"The number of poll watchdogs this year might not be as many
as for the 1999 elections," he said.
"If the number of monitors this year drops, public
participation will also decrease," he said.
Valina, however, dismissed suggestions that the requirements
would discourage new poll watchdogs.
"I think the number of poll watchdogs will drop due to limited
funds from donors," she said.
In 1999, 66 local poll watchdogs monitored the elections and
555 foreign poll watchdogs.