KPU to probe irregularities in voter registration

KPU to probe irregularities in voter registration

Arya Abhiseka, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The General Elections Commission (KPU) is planning to send teams
out to select regions to investigate reports of irregularities in
the voter registration process.

KPU member Mulyana W. Kusumah said on Wednesday that several
members of the commission would visit next week several regions,
such as East Java and Sumatra, to monitor voter registration.

"We will monitor several areas that have complained of a
shortage of forms and several other irregularities hampering
voter registration," he said.

Voter registration, which is costing KPU about Rp 417 billion
(US$46.8 million), is facing criticism over its poor publicizing
of the election. Members of the public have also complained about
the field officers' lack of professionalism in carrying out their
duties. The Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), which was asked
by KPU to carry out the registration, has been dropping hints
that it may not make the April 30 deadline.

Mulyana said BPS often complained about a shortage of
registration forms, duplicate entries made by untrained officers,
numerous errors, incomplete forms and a lack of field officers.

"In some areas in West Jakarta, for example, there are not
enough field officers, while several trained officers have failed
to correctly fill out or even complete the registration forms."

There have also been some reports of field officers asking
eligible voters to give them copies of their personal
identification and family cards, even though this is not a
requirement.

This has raised fears that some registration officials are
being used by political parties to collect copies of
identification and family cards to allow the party to run in the
2004 election.

Under the current political party law, parties need to have
branches in at least half of the country's provinces, and offices
in at least two-thirds of the regencies and districts of those
provinces. In addition, at least 1,000 signatures of their local
members along with the copies of their identification cards have
to be collected to have those local branches recognized.

Mulyana said KPU would impose certain sanctions on field
officers committing these practices. He did not elaborate on the
penalties.

He said that these irregularities may cause delays in several
provinces.

KPU had previously announced that 22 areas were experiencing a
shortage of 1.2 million voter registration forms. It said that
BPS had miscalculated the projected number of eligible voters.
The miscalculation has prompted KPU to increase its voter
registration budget by about Rp 950 million (US$106,000).

Some 130 million eligible voters are expected to register for
the 2004 election.

BPS had earlier complained about the poor publicizing of the
general election, in which the public was often unaware of the
time when a field officer would visit a household to conduct the
voter registration.

KPU commissioned BPS to conduct a nationwide census and voter
registration starting earlier this month. The deadline is April
30.

BPS has deployed about 230,000 officers to conduct the voter
registration with the results to be announced in December of this
year. The results will be used as an integrated single database
for future elections.

Indonesia's first direct elections will begin nationwide on
April 5, 2004, with the legislative election and it will be
followed by a two-phased presidential election between June and
August 2004.