Wed, 14 Apr 1999

KPU allocates legislative seats for East Timor

JAKARTA (JP): The General Elections Commission (KPU) ruled on Tuesday the troubled province of East Timor would receive four seats in the House of Representatives (DPR) rather than the 13 stipulated by the elections law, according to KPU deputy chairman Adnan Buyung Nasution.

"East Timor will be awarded four DPR seats, the same as their previous allocations... based on justice and proportional judgment," Adnan said after a plenary meeting of the KPU.

He said most of the members of the KPU -- comprising five government representatives and 48 representatives of the political parties contesting the June 7 general election -- felt allotting 13 DPR seats to the tiny province would be unfair to other provinces.

According to the 1999 law on elections, East Timor should be given 13 DPR seats, one for each of its 13 regencies. On the other hand, Irian Jaya, a much larger territory, is to receive 12 legislative seats to represent its 2.5 million residents.

In the past, East Timor always was allocated four seats because of its relatively small population of some 800,000.

"We haven't decided on the allocation of seats for the regency and provincial legislatures. We will do so on Wednesday," Adnan said.

KPU chairman Rudini said separately the decision also was made in response to the government's suggestion that East Timor be allocated four seats that the 48 poll contestants would have to compete for.

The KPU also decided the number of legislative seats for 11 other provinces: North Sumatra (24 seats), Riau (10), South Sumatra (15), Lampung (18), Jakarta (18), West Java (82), Central Java (59), Yogyakarta (6), East Java (67), West Kalimantan (9) and West Nusa Tenggara (8 seats).

In another ruling on Tuesday, the KPU stated the 48 political parties contesting the poll must announce with which party they would share or combine excess votes. One legislative seat is equal to 450,000 votes. The announcement should be made by May 31, a week before the June 7 poll.

Such agreements between parties are popularly called stambus akoord.

"All parties are free to determine their partners. Such agreements can be made between two, three or four parties," Adnan said.

Adnan said early announcements were needed to avoid voter confusion. "Every voter will realize that the party he or she supports may coalesce with other parties."

Separately, election officials in Aceh on Tuesday began making house calls to register eligible voters, Antara reported.

According to the chairman of the Aceh Provincial Elections Committee, Ahmad Farhan Hamid, reports from all districts in the province showed only 15 percent of the total 2,315,244 eligible voters in the province had registered by Monday.

"The door-to-door system is expected to increase significantly the number of registered voters, but we have no intention of forcing people to register," Ahmad said.

In a related development, Abdurrahman Wahid, chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Muslim organization, expressed his optimism that many people would register to vote because this election would determine the future of a "new Indonesia".

"Well, if people like myself start to register, I believe many people will follow. I will vote for the new, democratic country," he said after registering at Ciganjur subdistrict in South Jakarta.

Abdurrahman, or Gus Dur as he is better known, is the patron of the National Awakening Party (PKB).

On Wednesday, Rudini, along with National Elections Committee chairman Jacob Tobing, Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid and Directorate General for General Administration and Regional Autonomy Ryaas Rasyid, visited polling committees in Bekasi and East Jakarta. (edt)