KONI waives blame over voting snafu

KONI waives blame over voting snafu

JAKARTA (JP): The director of training at the National Sports
Council (KONI), Imron Z.S., said Tuesday the council was not to
blame for athletes' failure to vote in Monday's general election.

He said he asked the National Elections Committee to
familiarize athletes with new regulations on voter registration.

Imron was responding to complaints from several national
athletes who failed to vote on Monday. The athletes are taking
part in KONI's centralized training program for the 20th
Southeast Asian Games.

The athletes said they were not aware of the April 5 to May 15
voter registration period due to their tight training schedule.

Other athletes who come from outside of Jakarta said they were
unsure where they were supposed to vote. A number of the athletes
blamed their failure to vote in the elections on KONI, who did
not register the athletes as it had in past elections.

In the 1997 elections, KONI set up a polling place in its
parking lot, located next to the athletes' dormitory at the Hotel
Atlet Century Park in Central Jakarta.

This year, the mayoralty elections committee forbade the
council from setting up a polling place for athletes, saying
"polling places in front of office buildings are not allowed
because nobody is allowed special privileges, including
athletes", according to Imron.

"Don't make athletes scapegoats. We should blame the elections
committee for not clearly explaining (the regulations) to the
people. The election regulations are new and people need time to
become familiar with them," he said.

Imron said he told the coordinators of each sports body to
inform athletes they could vote at polling stations at Moestopo
University and Gelora subdistrict. (ivy)