Lack of voter education may cause ballot error: Analyst

Lack of voter education may cause ballot error: Analyst

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As most voters are unaware of the new electoral system, political
parties are likely to encourage supporters to punch the logo of
political parties on ballot papers instead of marking the names
of legislative candidates, a political analyst says.

Consequently, this will lead to the election -- or reelection
-- of legislative candidates loyal to political parties rather
than the election of candidates fighting for public interests,
said Arbi Sanit, a lecturer with the University of Indonesia.

"I believe the Elections Law was designed to maintain the
status quo, so the performance of legislators will be the same,"
he said at a discussion here.

Under the Elections Law, voters are to mark both party logos
and legislative candidates on the ballot papers, a system that
was adopted to allow the public to select candidates they
considered to best represent their interests.

Ballot papers will be declared invalid if voters mark only the
name of their chosen candidate.

However, the law stipulates that ballot papers bearing a mark
on the party logo alone, as in past elections, would be
considered valid.

Article 107 of the General Elections Law says that candidates
are elected as legislators if they gain a certain number of
votes. Priority will be given to those at the top of the
candidates list if no candidate has collected adequate votes.

As the list of legislative candidates is drawn up by political
parties, this will result in the winning parties represented by
legislators from the top of their lists -- most likely those
loyal to party leaders and interests rather than public
interests.

This scenario may become real, as a survey conducted by the
Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) revealed that more than half
of the country's 145 million registered voters still do not know
how to punch ballot papers properly.

The survey showed that 43 percent of 2,995 people surveyed in
December punched party logos only, while 34 percent simply did
not know where to punch. Only 23 percent marked their ballot
papers properly.

Voters who were unaware of the voting procedures were mostly
those from remote villages, the elderly, farmers, taxi drivers
and public transportation drivers.

Most legislative candidates have tried to take advantage of
the confusion among voters by encouraging them to mark party
logos only.

Muslim-based United Development Party (PPP) chairman Djuhad
Mahja acknowledged on Friday that the new system was confusing
and that his party would not risk the people's confusion.

He added that PPP leaders had discussed the issue and most of
them feared a possible decrease in the votes the PPP would garner
in the legislative election on April 5, 2004.

"If the people become confused, it will be better for them to
punch the party logo only," he said.

Rully Chairul Azwar, deputy secretary-general of the Golkar
Party, disagreed, saying that all parties must provide the public
with information on the proper voting procedure.

He said proper voter education was one thing, and the validity
of the ballot papers was another.

"I reject the campaign of urging voters to punch only the
party logo during the election. It is a kind of misinformation,"
he said.

Voters will be choosing from among 24 political parties in the
legislative election. Parties or coalitions of parties that gain
3 percent of seats in the House of Representatives or 5 percent
of total votes would be allowed to contest in the first direct
presidential election scheduled for July 5.