Govt upbeat polls to take place on time

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government gave assurances on Sunday that the legislative election would be held according to schedule on April 5 as all preparations, including the distribution of ballot papers, could be completed within the next two days.

"We are optimistic the polls can take place on schedule as everything will be in place in the next one to two days," interim Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs ad interim Hari Sabarno told reporters.

The minister also dismissed speculation that the government was drafting a regulation in lieu of a law to anticipate a possible delay in the election.

"We have never thought about a regulation. We are just thinking about how to ensure the election takes place on schedule," he said.

The Elections Supervisory Committee sent a letter earlier on Sunday to President Megawati Soekarnoputri, calling on her government to issue a regulation to anticipate a delay in the elections in several areas due to lack of election necessities.

Committee chairman Komaruddin Hidayat said that the request was made as election supplies had not reached regencies in 10 provinces as of Sunday.

"We do want to make the April 5 election a success, but because a number of areas have not received the necessary supplies, it would be better for the government to issue a ruling to anticipate election delays in several areas," he said.

The committee said the KPU had breached Law No. 12/2003 on elections for failing to provide ballot papers and other polling materials 10 days before the April 5 election.

Earlier on Saturday, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra, who also chairs the Crescent Star Party, said he was a preparing a regulation to anticipate the postponement of the elections in some areas.

Hari expressed his guarded optimism at National Police Headquarters after a conversation via a video linkup with local government officials from 31 provinces. West Irian Jaya province was not represented as the polls there are being administered by the Papua local elections commission.

Accompanying Hari were National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar and General Elections Commission (KPU) member Chusnul Mar'iyah.

Hari said that all ballot papers for the election of House of Representatives members had reached all 585,000 polling stations across the country while the delivery of ballot papers for the election of regional legislatures and Regional Representatives Council (DPD) members would be completed in the near future.

Several areas in Jambi and West Sumatra have not received the papers as they are being transported overland, instead of by air as instructed earlier.

Some areas in North Maluku and Papua will receive their ballot boxes and ink a bit late, but it will not disrupt the election preparations, Hari added.

"We will hold a final meeting on Tuesday or Wednesday to check the final preparations. We are continuing to monitor the distribution," said Hari, who is also the minister of home affairs.

Despite Hari's optimism, election delays remain a threat in some regencies.

About 700,000 voters in 33 remote districts of Lampung could lose their right to vote as ballot papers have not reached the areas.

"We are facing difficulties in distributing the papers as it's impossible to reach the areas on schedule using land transportation," Lampung local elections commission member Edwin Hanibal said.

Besides, the commission recorded 53,896 ballot papers which were either stated incorrectly the names of legislative candidates, or left them out altogether.

In Palu, local elections commission head Zainuddin Bolong said that voters in nine districts in Central Sulawesi could miss the election due to logistical problem.

"The police will help distribute polling materials by helicopter but there are no helipads in the remote districts," Bolong said.