Ex-communists eligible to vote

JAKARTA (JP): A total of 7,055 Jakartans who were involved in the 1965's coup blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party are being allowed to participate in next year's general election.

The secretary of Jakarta's general election committee, Bagus Suharyono, said yesterday that they were granted their rights to cast ballots after various screenings.

"They have fulfilled the requirements set by the government," Bagus said, adding that there are a total of 10,388 ex-members of the banned communist party in Jakarta.

The committee also announced that it would start registering voters in Jakarta from May 1 to July 20. About 25,000 officials will conduct door-to-door registrations.

Bagus said the registration was also aimed at finding out the correct number of eligible voters in Jakarta.

The city population office estimates 6.46 million people will take part in the general election, while according to the city statistics office, 6.11 million voters will cast their ballots, while mayoralty offices estimate only 5.4 million people will vote.

Bagus also said that the committee will establish a total of 12,012 polls in five mayoralties.(yns)