Govt told to speed up party vetting
Govt told to speed up party vetting
Arya Abhiseka and Fabiola Desy Unidjaya, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta
The General Elections Commission (KPU) urged the government on
Tuesday to speed up the ongoing verification of new political
parties to allow it to hold the general election and presidential
election ahead of schedule.
Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin, the chairman of the KPU, said the
commission would be unable to complete its other tasks if it did
not know the number of political parties contesting the
elections.
He said the KPU could not determine the number of parties
eligible for the elections because the Ministry of Justice and
Human Rights had yet to finish with the verification of more than
200 political parties registered with the ministry.
"There is a lot of work to be done in fulfilling our own
commitment to organize the elections ahead of schedule," he said.
Nazaruddin said that besides conducting voter registration on
April 1, the commission needed to verify the political parties to
make sure of the number of parties contesting the elections. He
said it could not start printing ballots or making ballot boxes
or polling booths unless it knew the number of candidates.
"We hope that the government will update us periodically on
the verified parties instead of just giving us a large amount of
data at the last minute. This would help the KPU examine whether
the parties meet the legal requirements to contest the
elections," he said.
According to the newly endorsed elections bill, some 237
parties must first go through two tests before they are declared
eligible for the election.
The first phase is conducted by the Ministry of Justice and
Human Rights while the second phase is conducted by the KPU. The
first test is aimed at checking whether the parties meet the
legal requirements to exist, while the second is aimed at
checking if they have met all the legal requirements for
contesting the election.
Separately, Wicipto Setiadi, the deputy chairman of the
government's verification team, said that his team would check
the new political parties in four groups, with the last group
expected to be finished in September.
"If the KPU hurries us, all we can do is urge parties to
register as soon as they can with the ministry. They hold the key
in this situation," he said.
He added that so far only 18 parties were registered at the
ministry, and none of them had passed the eligibility tests. The
deadline for parties to register is September 27 of this year.
"There are still parties that use logos and attributes that
are similar to others. It is mandatory that several of those
parties alternate their logos and attributes or else they'll face
disqualification. The alteration process takes time," he said.
The KPU has vowed to hold the elections in April 2004, two
months ahead of schedule, in order to give more chances for it to
prepare the presidential election by June so that a new president
and vice president can be sworn in in October.
Meanwhile, President Megawati Soekarnoputri warned the KPU to
be independent in preparing the country's first ever direct
presidential election.
Speaking during a closed door meeting on Tuesday with her
party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan), Megawati underlined that the KPU held a pivotal role
in ensuring the success of the elections.
"The KPU should just work and be independent in preparing the
elections," Megawati was quoted as saying by the party's
treasurer, Noviantika Nasution, on Tuesday.
"The members of the KPU should not take on the roles of
observers, researchers or politicians, because people are tired
of hearing those comments," she said.