KPU to bring forward 2004 election result
Moch . N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The General Elections Commission (KPU) decided on Tuesday to advance the announcement of the 2004 legislative election results from between April 21 and 30 to between April 21 and 28, and the number of seats each political party gets in the House of Representatives (DPR) from between May 7-8 to April 29-30.
KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said Tuesday that the change was aimed at giving the chance to political parties or coalitions of parties to make their presidential and vice presidential nominations between May 1 and May 7.
According to Ramlan, the legislative election will still be held on April 5, while the presidential election is still scheduled to be held on July 5 for the first round and Sept. 20 for the second round.
Ramlan also said that the KPU would not change the Oct. 9 deadline for political parties to register with the commission.
"We will register the parties up until midnight on Thursday, Oct. 9," he told a press briefing.
On Tuesday, four more parties registered with the KPU -- the United Development Party (PPP), the Peace and Prosperity Party (PDS), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
With these latest registrations, 17 of the 50 parties that passed the screening by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights are now officially listed with the KPU.
The remaining 33 parties must register with the commission on the last two days of registration -- Wednesday and Thursday -- or otherwise they will forfeit the chance to contest next year's elections.
Separately, KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin said a number of foreign governments and organizations, including the European Union and Australia, had told the KPU they were interested in monitoring the 2004 elections.
The KPU through its representative offices abroad will send out invitations to foreign governments and organizations to monitor the 2004 elections, he said.
"We see the monitoring of Indonesia's elections by foreign governments as being good for the country. It will promote transparency and strengthen the image of the 2004 elections in the eyes of the people," he said after a discussion on Tuesday with the Indonesian Rectors' Forum on general election management.
He also said that all monitoring agencies would be accredited by the KPU before they would be allowed to monitor the elections.
Rectors' Forum member Thoby Mutis, who is also the rector of Trisakti University, welcomed the planned election monitoring by foreign governments.
"What they (the foreign governments) should do is to see that the rules here are obeyed. We all want the 2004 elections to be good elections," he said.
The forum is planning to participate in monitoring the 2004 elections, as happened during the 1999 elections.
In his talks with the Rectors' Forum, Nazaruddin said the KPU would not hold an open tender for the supply of the information technology software needed for the 2004 elections. This was so as to avoid leaks, he said.
"We want to maximize our protection in IT software. If we were to hold an open tender for the software, there would be a danger that firms could provide information about the software to third parties, something that could endanger the whole system," he said.