KPU to open registration for election monitors on Jan. 21
KPU to open registration for election monitors on Jan. 21
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The General Elections Commission (KPU) said on Tuesday it would
open registration for election monitoring teams or agencies on
Jan. 21 in order for them to obtain accreditation.
"We are not giving a deadline for the registration (of
election monitoring teams or agencies) as this is not a
registration for political parties," KPU deputy chairman Ramlan
Surbakti told a press conference here on Tuesday. He was
accompanied by KPU member Valina Singka Subekti.
However, Ramlan quickly added that monitoring agencies or
teams should not register too close to the general election as
they might not be able to get accreditation in time for the April
5 elections.
He said monitoring teams or agencies were required to submit
an establishment title, list of board of executives, the total
number of membership, official name, address and photographs and
their source of funding.
Monitoring agencies or teams must not be affiliated to any
political party, he added.
The monitoring agencies and their board of executives were
also obliged to have experience in monitoring elections, he said.
Local and foreign monitoring agencies planning to monitor the
elections can register with the KPU or Indonesian embassies
overseas respectively, Ramlan said.
Monitoring agencies or teams that plan to monitor the
elections in only one province can register with the provincial
KPUD, while those planning to monitor elections in one regency or
municipality can register with the regency or municipality KPUD,
he added.
Meanwhile, Valina said that the KPU and KPUDs would issue
accreditation papers to monitoring agencies or teams endorsed by
the commission.
The KPU/KPUD will also issue identity cards to monitoring
agencies for their members to monitor the elections, she said.
The KPU has set up a working group in coordination with the
Ministry of Justice and Human Rights and the Ministry of Manpower
and Transmigration to deal with the registration of monitoring
agencies and teams, she added.
Ramlan also said that once the monitoring agencies or teams
obtained accreditation from the commission, they would have the
legal status to file reports with the Elections Supervisory
Committee (Panwaslu).
"They (the monitoring teams or agencies) will also be able to
collect reports from people and help them file reports with
Panwaslu," he said.
Ramlan said he had received no information from the Aceh
martial law administration on whether or not foreign monitoring
agencies would be allowed to monitor the elections in Aceh.
"Logically, if members of monitoring agencies obtain visas
from the Indonesian government, they could go anywhere in the
country, including Aceh. But we have to coordinate with the Aceh
martial law administration on this matter," he said.