KPU to start voter registration process Tuesday

Arya Abhiseka, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Field officers representing the General Elections Commission (KPU) will start voter registration on Tuesday April 1, for all citizens 17 or older who wish to vote in the 2004 general election.

KPU member Mudji Sutrisno told The Jakarta Post on Monday that all residents would be notified by each local neighborhood unit of the date when demographic information would be collected by field workers.

"The field officers, in co-operation with the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), will represent the KPU and will collect family cards, identification cards, birth certificates and marriage licenses from each household," he said.

He added that all pertinent information would be needed from each person wishing to register for the election, as well as those who did not because the BPS also planned to use this time to conduct a proper census.

"Each voter will receive a voter eligibility card about 30 days prior to the legislative election," he said, while adding that the election was slated for April 5, 2004.

The registration results will be announced in December, including the number of representatives from each respective city and region that will sit in the House of Representatives.

The combination of the census data and voter registration process to be done by the BPS is a bid to compile information on the nation's population into a single database.

The country will have its first ever direct legislative and presidential elections in 2004 as 130 million voters are expected to participate next year.

The KPU had announced that the direct legislative election would fall on April 5, 2004, followed by a two-phase direct presidential election between June and August 2004.

Meanwhile, the KPU announced its plan to discuss the status of the general election monitoring committee with the House of Representatives on Thursday.

The monitoring committee will monitor the general election process at every election booth, including the ballot counting.

"Currently the law states that the monitoring committee's term will end 30 days after the legislative election. We will propose to the House that the monitoring committee's term be lengthened until after the second presidential election," said Ramlan Surbakti, deputy chairman of the KPU on Monday.