KPU announces mapping of electoral districts

KPU announces mapping of electoral districts

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The General Elections Commission (KPU) has established a total of
1,565 electoral districts in more than 400 regencies for the
seats in regency and municipality legislative councils.

But no further details on the boundaries of the electoral
districts were provided.

The electoral districts in Aceh's regencies and municipalities
have yet to be drawn up to the ongoing registration of eligible
voters in the province. The registration has been hampered by the
ongoing military offensive.

KPU member Anas Urbaningrum said here on Thursday that KPU
would officially distribute the electoral maps to its branches in
provinces, regencies and municipalities on Friday.

"The public is expected to give feedback about the electoral
districts within two weeks (after the map is made public)," he
said.

Previously, KPU had created 200 electoral districts in 32
provinces for the seats in provincial legislative councils and 69
electoral districts for the 550 seats allocated for the House of
Representatives.

Separately, the National Mandate Party (PAN) proposed a new
way to form electoral districts so that all seats in the regency
and provincial legislative council and the House were distributed
fairly.

In a statement signed by PAN Deputy Chairman A.M. Fatwa and
deputy secretary general A. Hakam Naja, the party proposed that
every electoral district should be allocated between six and ten
seats to give a fair chance for all election contestants,
including the newcomers, to gain seats in the regional
legislatures and provincial legislative councils.

KPU should also consider the geographical condition of a
region or several regions which were merged to form an electoral
district so that legislators could serve their constituents, said
the statement.

It proposed the large North Sumatra province be divided into
four electoral districts, instead of the current two, while South
Sulawesi be divided into three electoral districts and not two.

According to the party, Jakarta could be split into three
electoral districts, instead of two, given the fact that absentee
ballots from those who are abroad would be allocated for the
capital city.

Besides, PAN also suggested that the Central Java regencies of
Boyolali, Karanganyar, and Sragen and Surakarta municipalities be
merged to form a single electoral district due to their similar
culture.

Anas said the commission would consider PAN's proposal to
improve the quality of the general election scheduled for April
5.

In other related developments, the Transparency International
Center for Innovation and Research (TI-CIR) called on Indonesia
to use the incoming legislative and presidential elections as a
good moment to seek a strong national leader which was committed
to eradicating rampant corruption.

Jeremy Pope, a senior staff member at TI-CIR said that ahead
of the elections, presidential candidates should make public
their anticorruption platform if they wanted to be elected.

"Otherwise, a president will be confused about what to do to
eradicate the corruption in his/her first 100 days," he said.

He cited as an example, that Brazilian President Lula was
confused because he had no program to combat the corruption in
the bureaucracy while presidential candidates in Bangladesh
announcing their anticorruption program during their presidential
campaigns.

Emmy Hafidz of Indonesian chapter of the Transparency
International suggested that politicians running for the
president should set a specific timetable to combat corruption in
the judiciary, to announce their financial report and unveil
their parties's accountability in the first 100 days of their
administration.