KPU says 2004 poll to cost Rp 3 trillion
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The General Elections Commission (KPU) said the 2004 general election could cost the government some Rp 3.02 trillion (about US$329 million), or three times the amount of the 1999 election.
KPU chairman Nazaruddin Syamsuddin attributed on Wednesday the cost increase to inflation during the five years since 1999, and the plan to set up a database of voters.
The database, he said, was aimed at bypassing the costly registration of voters for each election, and would subsequently only require updating.
"This will cut the cost of the 2009 election and others thereafter," he told reporters on the sidelines of a discussion on politics here.
The KPU is an independent body the government has set up to organize the 2004 election.
Nazaruddin said his commission would submit its budget proposals toward the end of this year, but added that the government had been informed about the figures involved.
"We would prefer a fixed five-year budget. However, the funds are to be made available annually," he said, explaining that the first tranche would come from the 2003 state budget.
He estimated that around 65 percent of the commission's budget, or about Rp 1.95 trillion, would be needed by 2003. That was when most of the physical preparations would be undertaken, he explained.
Among the major costs involved in preparing for the election was the purchase of ballot papers. "We have maybe between 120 million and 140 million voters. So if each voter gets one form in triplicate, that's quite a lot of paper to be paid for," he explained.
The KPU also planned to launch an education campaign on the electoral process and what to look for when choosing a party, he said, while giving assurances that it would not promote any specific party.
But the KPU's work was being hampered by the slow deliberation of the electoral and political bills in the legislature.
Nazaruddin said uncertainties over the type of election planned for 2004 had forced the commission to draw up several alternative plans.
As the KPU was unable to effectively prepare the election rules without the proper laws in place, it would be forced to work at a frenetic pace once the lawmakers had finished deliberating the bills.
The election is scheduled for June 2004, but Nazaruddin did not rule out the possibility of delaying it until December at the latest.
It is still unclear whether Indonesians will be able to directly elect their president in 2004, with legislators slated to decide on the issue at the Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).
Nazaruddin said that the figure of Rp 3.02 trillion did not include the cost of holding a direct presidential election.
He explained that the additional cost would likely be around five percent or less if the country held the presidential and the legislative elections simultaneously.
Commenting on the government's threadbare finances, he added that the KPU was considering seeking funds from foreign donors.