Final three parties pass KPU screening
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After several days of delay, the General Elections Commission (KPU) announced on Thursday the final three political parties had passed administrative screening and would proceed to field verifications.
The three parties were identified as the Glorious Marhaen National Party, the Gotong Royong Party and the Indonesian Nationalist Unity Party.
With the announcement, 40 of 44 political parties have passed the KPU's administrative screening, one of the requirements for contesting the 2004 general election.
Should all 40 parties pass the field verification, Indonesia will have 46 parties contesting the 2004 elections. Forty-nine parties took part in the last elections in 1999, the first after the downfall of former president Soeharto.
Six parties -- the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, Golkar Party, the United Development Party, the National Awakening Party, the National Mandate Party and the Crescent and Star Party -- automatically qualified for the 2004 elections because they met the 2 percent electoral threshold in the 1999 elections.
"The documents of the three parties in 21 provinces have met our screening requirements," KPU member Mulyana W. Kusumah said here on Thursday.
He was accompanied by another KPU member Hamid Awaluddin and several KPU officials in charge of party verification.
Indonesia will hold legislative elections on April 5, 2004, and two-stage presidential elections on July 5 and Sept. 20.
The three parties, along with five other parties -- the Catholic Party, the Islamic Party, the Pro-Republic Party, the Indonesian Workers Party and the Unitary Republic Indonesia Party -- were initially thought to have failed the KPU administrative screening.
The commission was scheduled to announce the verification results for 29 parties on Monday, the last day for the party screening. But come announcement time, the KPU said that it deferred the decision on eight political parties.
On Tuesday, the KPU announced that four parties -- the Catholic Party, the Islamic Party, the Pro-Republic Party and the Indonesian Workers Party -- had failed to pass the screening, while the Unitary Republic Indonesia Party had passed.
Mulyana said that during the administrative screening of the final eight parties, the KPU had softened its requirements, especially on the letter of the party office location.
According to a KPU decree, the letter should be signed by the district head, but the KPU decided to allow the final eight parties to submit letters signed by the village head.
He also said the screening of the eight parties took longer than expected.
Mulyana said that during the factual administration period, KPU members would supervise provincial, regental and municipal KPUs in verifying parties.
The factual verification will take place until Nov. 20, and all factual screening reports from provincial, regental or municipal KPUs must be submitted to the KPU on Nov. 29 at the latest.
During the factual screening, provincial and regental KPU offices will conduct a field verification of whether the parties have met the minimum requirements of establishing offices in 21 provinces and in two-thirds of regencies/mayoralties in those provinces.
The KPU also will randomly check 10 percent of the membership cards of parties in regencies and municipalities.
After the factual screening, the KPU will hold a plenary session to decide which parties are eligible to contest the 2004 elections. The results will be announced on Dec. 2.