Int'l poll watchdog calls for revision of election rules

Int'l poll watchdog calls for revision of election rules

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An international election monitoring team suggested on Monday
that election regulations deemed discriminatory should be amended
to ensure greater public participation in future polls.

The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM) said
in its final report on the legislative and presidential elections
that a number of regulations had hampered voters and candidates
from exercising their constitutional rights to the fullest.

EU-EOM chief observer Glyn Ford said during a press briefing
that the restrictive measures ranged from education and health
requirements, as well as prohibitions on "certain groups", could
be considered as infringing the principle of universal suffrage.

"The current level of educational requirements for candidates
excludes a large portion of the population and effectively
discriminates against women and indigenous minorities. No
education requirements should be necessary for candidates in
regental and municipal elections," Ford said, adding that
consideration should be given to lowering the requirements for
other elections, outside of the presidential election.

Ford also said another stumbling block to wider participation
was the health requirements imposed on presidential candidates,
which had cost former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid a
second shot at the presidency.

"Provisions related to the health condition of candidates like
the ones contained in the General Elections Commission (KPU)'s
Decree No. 31/2004 are unusual in international practice," the
EU-EOM said in its final report.

The EU-EOM, however, recommended that the health status of
candidates should be independently assessed and made public.

Gus Dur and his running mate Marwah Daud Ibrahim were
prevented from running in the July 5 presidential race after an
independent team of doctors commissioned by the KPU declared that
the cleric failed to meet the eyesight requirement.

In its report, the EU-EOM also recommended that the right to
stand should be extended to former members of the Indonesian
Communist Party (PKI) and its affiliates.

It further recommended that all political parties should be
allowed to contest seats again in electoral districts where they
won seats in the previous election.

As for the role of the KPU, the EU-EOM said that it should be
accorded more leverage in the direct elections for local
government chief executives, which are scheduled for June 2005.

The amended version of Law No. 22/1999 on local government is
silent about the role of the KPU in organizing local elections,
saying only that local election commissions (KPUDs) are
responsible for organizing these elections.

"We find it very strange that the central KPU is not going to
be involved in organizing the local elections. We hope that the
regulation can be reversed soon," EU-EOM election analyst
Domenico Tuccinardi said.

The EU-EOM mission consists of 65 long-term observers, 125
short-term members and 18 officials assigned by the embassies of
EU member countries in Jakarta, as well as a team of experts,
making it the biggest foreign election monitoring team in
Indonesia.

Observers from the team were deployed in all of the country's
32 provinces, including the strife-torn provinces of Nanggroe
Aceh Darussalam and Maluku.