Increased interest in legislature

Increased interest in legislature

TANGERANG (JP): An increasing number of people are interested
in applying for legislative positions, as reflected by the fact
that as of Monday, 425 people had applied to the Tangerang
District Court for documents certifying they have no criminal
record.

Ansyori Thoyib, secretary of the court, said: "The documents
will be used by the applicants to propose themselves as
candidates for legislative councils at the central, provincial,
mayoralty and regency levels."

"Most applicants come from only eight of the 48 parties
eligible to contest the next general election," he said, adding
that the eight parties included the National Mandate Party,
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and Golkar.

Meanwhile, Tangerang Regent Agus Djunara handed over Rp 10
million on Monday for the operational costs of the elections to
representatives of 42 parties.

"The money is expected to be utilized as effectively as
possible so as to help make the elections a success," Agus said.

The regent earlier gave Rp 150 million assistance to the
Regional Elections Committee to help finance the committee's
activities.

Agus said that out of the 2.1 million eligible voters in the
regency, 1.6 million had registered. (41/hhr)