Govt upbeat polls to take place on time

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.