Govt finishes draft regulation to delay election
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government has completed a draft decree that will be issued in the event that the general election cannot be held simultaneously nationwide or must be postponed altogether.
A Ministry of Justice and Human Rights official confirmed on Monday that the ministry had completed the draft decree.
"We sent it to the Cabinet secretary this morning for enactment when necessary," said Director General of legislation Abdulgani Abdullah.
The decree has been drafted in response to calls for help from the General Elections Commission (KPU), which is in charge of organizing the elections, with the general election due on April 5.
Although the KPU said earlier it was upbeat that the election would be held on time despite several delays in the provision and distribution of election materials, it finally urged the government to draw up a regulation in lieu of law to ensure the legitimacy of the general election.
The draft decree considers a possible failure in distributing materials to electoral districts. The Election Law stipulates that all materials must reach their destinations 10 days before election day, or March 26, said Abdulgani.
In a meeting late on Monday, however, the KPU and the House of Representatives agreed that the legitimacy of the election was not an issue.
"There is no need to reschedule the election (in certain areas) although we failed to comply with the law in ensuring that all electoral materials arrived 10 days before election day," KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin said.
House speaker Akbar Tandjung called on the public not to blow the logistics and delivery problem out of proportion.
"The important thing is for the election to take place simultaneously on April 5," he said as quoted by Antara.
Akbar said a tripartite meeting between the House, the KPU and the president would follow soon to formalize the decree.
In a meeting with President Megawati Soekarnoputri, also on Monday, Nazaruddin admitted that remote areas were a particular worry regarding the distribution of electoral materials, despite his earlier optimism.
State/Cabinet Secretary Bambang Kesowo said a government regulation in lieu of law was needed to correct the situation, as the KPU had violated the law in not delivering the materials on time.
Meanwhile, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, is short of three million ballot papers and several thousands of ballots were found to be damaged.
Local KPU head Mahally Fikri said some areas of the province could only be reached by helicopter.
"We are in a state of panic, because many of the ballots are damaged and we cannot reach several areas," he said, and that he would seek help from the Indonesian Military (TNI) as soon as possible.
The Poso KPU office in Central Sulawesi has declared that it will not be able to hold the election on April 5, as it had received only 180,000 ballot papers for legislative candidates, while 900 ballots were damaged.
Similar concerns were raised by the Palu KPU office, also in Central Sulawesi, where officials said it was impossible for ballot papers to reach remote areas before April 5 if they did not arrived within two days.
In Manado, North Sulawesi, thousands of ballot papers came in the wrong color for one political party. The local KPU said the damaged papers numbered only a few thousands.
In East Nusa Tenggara, only one municipality has received all ballot papers, while the remaining 13 regencies were still awaiting an average 25 percent of their ballot quota.
Another problem arose in East Kalimantan, where local KPU officials said they received ballot papers intended for other provinces.
The province has, however, received and distributed around 95 percent of ballot papers to its electoral districts.