Local elections could result in lack legitimacy: Survey

Local elections could result in lack legitimacy: Survey

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A new survey has suggested that the direct elections being
planned in over 140 regions across the nation this month should
be delayed due to lack of preparations, or else they would spark
conflicts and produce illegitimate leaders.

The insufficient preparedness on the part of all relevant
parties in the regions to hold the elections would not contribute
to the desired development of democracy, it argued.

The study, jointly conducted by the Indonesian Institute of
Sciences (LIPI) and the Partnership for Governance Reform in
Indonesia, found that most regions, including election
organizers, local administrations, political parties, eligible
voters and independent supervisory agencies, were not prepared
for the planned democratic events.

The survey was conducted simultaneously in 14 regencies and
municipalities in North and West Sumatra, Java, Bali and South
Sulawesi. It involved local elite figures, including government
officials, local election commission members, informal leaders
and journalists.

The 14 regions, including the regencies of Kutai Kartanegara,
Pekalongan, Kebumen and Cilegon, were part of more than 140
regencies and municipalities scheduled to hold local elections in
June.

According to the survey's findings, the local branches of the
General Elections Commission (KPUD)s could not work optimally to
prepare direct elections because of the late disbursement of
election funds from the central government.

"The registration for eligible voters was also chaotic because
many people had never been registered, while many others received
more than one voter card. This has happened in Kutai Kartanegara
and Cilegon," Syamsuddin Harris, who coordinated the survey, said
when presenting the survey results on Thursday.

He said the establishment of a special regional election desk
by the central government was disturbing rather than helpful for
KPUDs, while local administrations have played no role other than
cashiers.

"The civic education campaign by the KPUDs have failed to
reach a majority of eligible voters and they are not given a
chance to vote," he claimed.

Syamsuddin, also a political analyst with LIPI, said the most
crucial problem was serious and widespread corruption and vote-
buying, while most regions had no independent supervisory bodies.

"Independent candidates have to pay more for their nominations
and have to secure political support from one or more of the
large political parties," he said.

It was also difficult to find independent election monitoring
bodies due to the absence of foreign aid and foreign election
monitoring organizations, Syamsuddin added.

Hadar Gumay, coordinator of the Center for Electoral Reform
(Cetro), concurred and said the regions' lack of preparedness was
evidenced by the recent local elections in Pekalongan, Kutai,
Kebumen and Cilegon.

"According to Cetro's observations, the number of illegal
votes during the local elections is around two percent higher
than that during the second round of last September's
presidential election in the four regions, while the
participation of eligible voters is around 30 percent lower than
that during the presidential election. This indicates that the
registration drive for the local elections among eligible voters
were not conducted properly," he said.

Syamsuddin and Hadar were of the same opinion that the
decision was in the hands of home affairs minister M. Ma'ruf and
KPUDs whether they had the courage to postpone the elections,
especially those scheduled for June 27-28, to avoid widespread
public disappointment and social conflict.

"The quality of local elections and the legitimacy of elected
leaders will be questioned and social conflict will be a distinct
possibility among local elites and their supporters as is
currently happening in Kutai and Cilegon," said Hadar.