KPU assures no delay in general election

KPU assures no delay in general election

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The General Elections Commission (KPU) will be able to hold the
next general election on schedule after securing the government's
commitment to meeting the Rp 3.02 trillion budget requested by
the body, officials say.

KPU member Chusnul Mar'iyah said on Tuesday the government had
proposed Rp 2 trillion (US222 million) in the draft 2003 state
budget for the general election and would provide the remaining
funds in the following fiscal year.

"Our problem has been about funds, but now that the government
has agreed with our proposed budget we are certain that we can
hold the election on schedule," said Chusnul, a political analyst
from the Jakarta-based University of Indonesia.

The proposed budget for the 2004 election is double that for
the 1999 polls, which cost the country Rp 1.5 trillion.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri proposed the first
disbursement of election funds in her speech before the House of
Representatives on Friday.

In the meantime the bills on political parties and general
elections, which will give KPU the authority to organize the
elections, are expected to be passed by the House in November.

As soon as the new fiscal year started, Chusnul said, the
commission could start setting up at least 443 general election
commissions in provinces and cities/regencies across the country
in November.

"We can also open bids for companies that wish to print voter
forms. Companies can submit their tenders," she said.

Meanwhile, another KPU member, Ramlan Surbakti, said the
commission would start registering eligible voters in January
next year and complete its verification in June.

"It's like a census. The data could be used for the next
elections," Ramlan, a professor in politics at the Surabaya-based
Airlangga University, said.

He said the commission would start to open registration for
political parties in June next year and it would need KPU five
months to verify and decide the parties that qualified for the
election.

After all the ballots were ready and election commission
officers trained, Ramlan said, the general election could start
in June 2004.

Ramlan revealed three scenarios for the election, including
one that groups the election of members of the House, Regional
Representatives Council (DPD), local legislative bodies (DPRD) on
the one hand and the presidential and vice presidential election
on the other.

Under that proposal, the election of the DPR, DPD and DPRD
would be held in June 2004, with the results announced two months
later.

The presidential and vice presidential election would take
place in September, with the much-anticipated run-off slated for
November.

"This would need a consensus to extend the tenure of the
current president by about two and half months as the elected
president would only be announced at the end of 2004," he said.

Megawati's term of office is scheduled to end in October 2004.

KPU also proposed another alternative, in which the elections
were held simultaneously.

"But it would be difficult to implement as this scheme would
require officials to be on duty for a 22-hour stretch," he said.

The third scenario suggests that the national election of the
president and DPR and DPD members be held simultaneously in 2004,
and moves back the election of DPRD members to the following
year.