KPU to control pollsters' activities ahead of election
M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta
In a move that could further restrict freedom of expression, the General Elections Commission (KPU) applied on Tuesday a variety of conditions for independent pollsters to meet prior to conducting any research.
KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said the decision was part of the commission's efforts to avoid opinion polls being used by presidential candidates to promote themselves.
The KPU decision came one day after the Megawati Soekarnoputri-Hasyim Muzadi camp called on the commission to closely monitor the activities of the Washington-based International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) and other independent pollsters.
"Opinion polls on presidential candidates cannot be banned by the commission in the runoff as it concerns freedom of speech and freedom of expression, but at least we can regulate the polling to ward off unwanted consequences," Ramlan told a news briefing here on Tuesday.
Ramlan said that prior to sending their survey staff into the field, pollsters must report their funding sources to the commission -- to determine whether it is related to presidential tickets -- explain their data collecting methods and magnitude of sampling within the population, when polling will be conducted and the margin of error.
The same conditions apply to media that publish the opinion polls.
The commission also suggested that independent pollsters do not publish their survey results during the one-day cooling-off period after the Sept. 17 to Sept. 19 campaigning period.
However, the commission will not take legal action against unruly pollsters and would let the public judge whether or not the pollsters were neutral in their released findings.
"We will only give a written and public reprimand, so that members of the public can decide for themselves," Ramlan said.
The commission will also set up a monitoring team to closely watch the independent pollsters' activities. Ramlan declined to disclose details of the plan.
The Megawati-Hasyim campaign team made the demand after scores of independent pollsters published surveys predicting that Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and running mate Jusuf Kalla would win the Sept. 20 runoff.
Heri Akhmadi of the Megawati-Hasyim team said that the pollsters favored the Susilo-Kalla pair and always underestimated others.
Contacted separately, Yanti B. Sugarda, managing director of IFES' local partner the Polling Center said that she was ready to disclose any information related to her opinion polls any time.
"We use a scientific method in our survey, why must we be afraid of disclosing it, it is part of our accountability to the public, of which the KPU is a part," she told The Jakarta Post.
She also said that the KPU move was not in response to the Megawati-Hasyim camp's demands.
The program manager of the Institute of Economic and Social Studies and Development (LP3ES) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI)-sponsored Quick Count, Muhammad Husain, said that if the conditions had to be fulfilled by pollsters it would curtail their freedom.