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.