KPU says 2004 poll to cost Rp 3 trillion

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.