Loopholes in draft law haunt 2004 elections
Loopholes in draft law haunt 2004 elections
Annastashya Emmanuelle
and Kurniawan Hari
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
The election law revision drafted by the Ministry of Home Affairs
has numerous loopholes that need to be closed to ensure fair
elections in 2004 free of dispute, observers said on Thursday.
Legal observer Bambang Widjojanto said the draft did not
contain clear rulings on disputes that could arise over
registration, campaigning, funding and the actual process of the
election.
Indeed, Bambang said, some articles in the draft revision
contradicted the 1945 Constitution.
"The draft revision is worse than existing Law No. 2/1999 on
elections, which is quite bad," Bambang said during a media
workshop on the draft election law, organized by the Center for
Electoral Reform (Cetro).
Separately, Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno confirmed
that the long-awaited draft revision on elections and political
parties had been submitted to the House of Representatives on
Wednesday for deliberation.
Hari said that another draft revision on the composition of
the House, the People's Consultative Assembly and regional
legislative councils was still being prepared.
The media workshop on Thursday focused on a number of
different aspects of the elections, including the electoral
system, the independence of the General Elections Commission
(KPU), sources of campaign funding and the resolution of election
disputes.
Bambang, Cetro executive director Smita Notosusanto and KPU
member Chusnul Mar'iyah all voiced concern with the quality of
the draft revision.
They also said they suspected there was an effort by the home
affairs ministry to curb the independence of the elections
commission.
As an example, they said, Paragraph E (5), Article 22 of the
1945 Constitution stipulates that general elections are to be
organized by a national, permanent and independence general
elections commission.
But Paragraph 8, Article 66 of the draft revision states that
the working period for the KPU is five years from the time of its
swearing in, and it is not allowed to sit for another term.
"This contradicts the Constitution, which says the KPU is a
permanent body," said Chusnul, adding that this contradiction
would hamper the performance of the commission.
The independence of the KPU also seems to be threatened by
the home affairs ministry's decision to declare the commission a
government institution, which would give the ministry control
over the KPU secretariat.
The draft revision also says the KPU secretary-general and
deputy secretary-general will be appointed and dismissed by the
president, on the recommendation of the home affairs minister.
"The subordination of the KPU to the government will put the
commission in a position of being easily controlled by the ruling
political parties. The KPU will not be able to maintain its
neutrality," Smita said.
At the provincial level, the draft revision says local
elections committees will be established by governors and local
legislative councils.