'Govt's election model needs modification'

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The electoral system outlined by the government is considered the most applicable for the 2004 elections, although modifications are needed to enable voters to clearly understand the new scheme, experts say.

"In general terms, the model proposed by the home ministry is better than the others, but it needs some adjustments to minimize technical constraints," political scientist Syamsuddin Haris from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) told a discussion here on Thursday.

Hadar N. Gumay from the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) concurred, said that the government's model would ensure direct representation of the people who had voted for each individual legislator, and hopefully ensure better accountability.

Syamsuddin and Hadar were commenting on the electoral bill currently being deliberated in the House of Representatives that could adopt a combination of a proportional system with an open- list of candidates.

All factions at the House of Representatives (DPR) have agreed to adopt the proportional system with an open-list of candidates. Under the new system, voters will directly choose their candidates, instead of political parties.

The House, however, has not reached an agreement on the technicalities of the new system.

The home affairs ministry proposed that the electoral zone should cover a province or parts of a province. Political parties are allowed to nominate two candidates for each legislative seat on offer.

Under this system, people vote for a political party and candidates up to the number of seats contested.

Analysts said that although applicable, this system contained difficulties during ballot-counting.

Apart from the government, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and Golkar Party have proposed their own models.

PDI Perjuangan's model allows political parties to nominate as many candidates as there are seats.

Under this model, people could vote for a political party and/or write the name of their legislative candidates they prefer. If people elect only political parties, they give the power back to the parties to determine each legislator.

The faction proposes that an electoral zone cover an entire province, a proposal considered by analysts as too large.

Hadar said the system offered by PDI Perjuangan would not ensure direct representation by legislators for their constituents, thus was undemocratic.

Golkar's model allows political parties to nominate twice as many candidates as seats in each province.

Under this system, people would vote for political parties and the legislative candidate on the same ballot.

The party suggested that the electoral zone cover a regency or municipality.

According to Hadar, the Golkar model would ensure representation of constituents, but would be difficult for the election committee when it came to counting the votes.