KPU to start voter registration process Tuesday

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.