Most parties disobeyed rules: Poll watchdog

Most parties disobeyed rules: Poll watchdog

JAKARTA (JP): The Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu)
announced on Saturday almost all of the 48 political parties
contesting the general election on Monday have violated various
election rules.

In a press statement evaluating the 16-day-long election
campaigning which ended Friday, the body said: "We are
disappointed and surprised to find that almost all of the
contestants have violated the election laws and regulations."

Reading out the evaluation, committee member Dadang Hawari
said the contestants violated both traffic and the General
Election Committee's (KPU) regulations when they mobilized
supporters from one area to another and staged street rallies.

The rallies badly congested traffic in various cities and
disrupted people's social and economic activities. In Jakarta
alone, some 70 percent of public transportation could not operate
during the campaigning.

Other violations, he said, concerned the content of speeches
of politicians and slogans of supporters, which disparaged other
parties or their leaders.

Dadang said the majority of the contestants also ignored a law
which prohibits the use of government and religious facilities,
including subdistrict offices and mosques, for campaigning.

The committee's deputy chairman Todung Mulya Lubis revealed
that most of the contestants were also involved in "money
politics" during the election campaigning.

"Almost all of the election contestants were involved in money
politics. The only difference is the degree of their involvement,
big or small," he said.

Lubis said the majority of the contestants committed "small-
scale money politics" by promising supporters "transportation
allowances" if they showed up at the parties' campaign sessions.

He alleged big-scale money politics were committed by Golkar
Party, the People's Sovereignty Party (PDR) and the United
Development Party (PPP), who reportedly misused the Social Safety
Net Fund for their campaign activities.

Another committee member, Arief Rachman, announced from the
organization's provisional report that there were 30,539 cases of
traffic violations and 4,489 cases of "administrative and
methodology violations".

He also said there were 12,783 cases of disputes among
contestants, 420 of which were settled on the spot, while the
rest were brought either to election committees or the district
courts nationwide.

In a related development, some 100 volunteers of the National
Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) were dispatched
Saturday to 41 towns and cities in six provinces: Jakarta, West,
Central and East Java, Yogyakarta and Bali. The six provinces
were believed to represent 64 percent of Indonesia's total voting
population of 130 million.

The Philippines-based poll watch, which will be assisted by
the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP), the
University Network for a Free and Fair Election (Unfrel) and the
Rector's Forum, will cover a sample of 76,821 polling stations.

Namfrel volunteers will be led by chairman Jose Concepcion,
Jr.

Team members include former Philippines envoy to Cambodia Gen.
(ret) Thelmo Cunanan and Namfrel executive director Telibert
Laoc.

On Friday, Indonesian Military Chief (TNI) Gen. Wiranto told
leaders of the Asian Network for Free Elections (Anfrel) that
security was tight and would permit the elections.

"General Wiranto assured us in the meeting that the overall
situation is very good," read Anfrel's press statement, copies of
which were made available to the media on Saturday.

The seven-member delegation, representing Anfrel's 75
observers from 18 countries in Asia, Europe and North America,
was led by head of Anfrel's mission Gen. (ret) Sayud Kerdphol.

Wiranto told the visiting delegation that the military will
remain neutral and stand from the same distance as all of the
election contestants.

"The Indonesian Military will remain neutral in Monday's
election and is committed to see a free and fair election," he
said.

Asked about the situation in Aceh and the possibility of
postponing the election in other critical areas, he said the
incidents of violence were only in Aceh's isolated areas.

"Meanwhile, the security situation in East Timor and the
Maluku's capital of Ambon is good," he said. (imn)