Four parties pass preliminary screening for 2004 election

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Of the nearly 240 political parties registered with the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, only four have passed preliminary screening to be deemed legal entities.

The four parties are: the Prosperous Justice Party (PK Sejahtera), the Indonesian Catholic-Democratic Party (PKD), the Indonesian Union Party (PSI) and the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKP Indonesia).

Ramly Hutabarat, the ministry's director of state administrative affairs, said preliminary screening was needed to check whether a political party's central board met the administrative requirements set by the ministry.

The requirements include the presence of a party secretariat at the national level, the submission of names of party executives and the party's ownership of secretariat stationary, including computers and fax machines.

Obtaining legal entity status is mandatory for political parties before they undergo another round of verification conducted by the General Elections Commission (KPU). The latter stage will determine whether a political party is eligible to contest the general election in 2004.

The preliminary screening will last until the end of September, before the verification by the KPU.

Ramly, who heads the screening team, said the ministry would further examine whether parties that had obtained legal entity status fulfilled the ministry's requirements in their respective chapters and branches.

Five more parties will be examined later this month.

The nine parties were screened first because they had confirmed their participation in the elections to the ministry and completed administrative requirements.

Two more parties that have reregistered but not yet met the requirements are the Golkar Party and the Nation Unity Party (PPB). The will be screened for a second time in July.

There are 237 political parties listed in Indonesia, but only 50 have registered for the 2004 general election.

Political parties have until the end of September to register for the 2004 election and meet the requirements.

The KPU will announce the eligible parties in December this year.