International observers dispatched for election

International observers dispatched for election

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter announced the dispatching of
the Carter Center election team here Saturday, one of several
foreign agencies officially registered to observe the country's
first direct presidential election on Monday.

"Last night and this morning, the representatives from the
Carter Center were dispatched ... and they will be making a very
close observation (of the voting) and submitting their
reports..," Carter, the official head of the mission, said after
a meeting with General Elections Commission (KPU) members.

The observers would cooperate closely with other local and
foreign monitors and would work according to KPU rules, he said.

Carter was last here during the April legislative election and
once before in the 1999 general election.

For the latest poll, the center brought in 50 additional
short-term observers to join an earlier batch of observers who
have been in the country since April.

After observing two previous elections here, Carter said: "The
rapid movement of Indonesia to democracy as demonstrated in the
peaceful acceptance of an accurate election result is very
impressive."

Based on that experience, he believed the poll would be a
success. "We also expect that the run-off in September will be
done properly as well."

Carter's wife, Rosalynn, and former prime minister of Thailand
Chuan Leekpai also head the mission.

On election day, the Carter Center observers will witness poll
openings, voting, tallying at polling stations, and the
transportation of the ballot boxes to the poll committees. They
will be deployed to 20 of the country's 32 provinces in Sumatra,
Sulawesi, Java, Bali and Kalimantan.

The center was founded in 1982 by Carter and Rosalynn in
partnership with Emory University to advance the causes of peace
and public health worldwide.

The center will offer a preliminary assessment of the election
process in the wake of the poll.

Another foreign monitoring team, the European Union Election
Observation Mission, said it would deploy 230 observers to all
provinces, making it the largest foreign monitoring team in the
country.

The group includes 132 observers that arrived in the country
recently. The short-term observers, 128 from EU member states and
four from Switzerland, will join the mission established in
March, which consists of 12 election experts, 68 long-term
observers and 17 locally recruited observers.

The International Observer Resource Center said over 50 of its
observers would be ready at polling stations countrywide
following an invitation from the KPU.