KPU told to revoke seat allocation decree

KPU told to revoke seat allocation decree

JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie has demanded the
revocation of an election commission decree granting legislative
seats to parties that failed at the ballot box, Antara said on
Monday.

"If the KPU (the General Elections Commission) does not do it
(revoke the decree), if necessary President Habibie will declare
it," Achmad Farhandari of the National Mandate Party was quoted
as telling journalists after meeting with Habibie along with
executives of six other major political parties.

The controversy is the latest hurdle election authorities must
clear in order to finalize the results of June's general
election.

The commission is made up of one representative from each of
the 48 political parties that took part in the polls and five
from the government. The decree had followed intense debate with
the smaller parties that failed to gather enough votes to make it
into the House of Representatives but adamantly demanded
representation.

The ruling has been widely criticized and many have called for
the ouster of the smaller parties from the KPU, saying they only
hindered the seat allocation process.

Eleven of the 48 parties have won seats at the parliament and
120 seats remain to be allotted. The election commission missed
its Aug. 28 deadline to announce the final seat allocation
following a disagreement over calculation methods.

On Monday, KPU decided to revoke a stembus akoord, or a vote
sharing deal, involving eight Muslim-based parties which had
insisted that their own calculating method be employed.

The National Elections Committee (PPI) had earlier decided to
pool votes gained by the eight parties in the elections and
divide them by a certain divisor.

The group opposed the decision saying it was unfair and would
reduce its share of the seats in the House. With their own
method, where a ranking system is used to allocate the seats,
they could get 58 seats, compared to only 39 seats based on the
committee's method.

"The KPU decided the calculation for the remainder of seats
will be without the vote-sharing formula," commission chairman
Rudini said after the meeting.

Rudini offered two alternatives to the 48 elections
contestants: They could recognize or nullify the vote-sharing
deal.

Antara said 43 commission members voted against the vote-
sharing deal, 12 supported it while two members abstained.

Rudini said the result of the vote was valid because the
decision was agreed by at least two-thirds of the 48 political
parties attending the meeting.

"The ruling to calculate without the vote sharing is only
applicable for the national and regional levels which have not
yet completed their calculations," he said. (emf/prb)