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.