'Organizing polls is President's privilege'

JAKARTA (JP): Golkar has dismissed the call from the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) that they be involved in organizing the general elections.

Deputy chairman of the ruling political grouping, Waskito Reksosoedirdjo, said yesterday that, by law, the authority and responsibility for the holding of general elections rest exclusively with the President.

Contestants in the general elections, namely the PDI, the PPP and Golkar, do not have the right to determine whether they should be included in committees established to organize the polls, he said.

The decree of the People's Consultative Assembly No. II/1993 states that "the only person in charge of holding the general election is the President," Waskito told a press conference during a break in Golkar's annual leadership meeting.

The two minority parties have long called on the government to be included in the preparation for the holding of general elections.

Leaders of the two parties have often expressed suspicion of unfair practices in vote-counting procedures during previous polls. They have also often stated that involving them in the organizing committees would ensure more fair competition.

Waskito, however, said that there's no legal basis for the request. "Their requests to participate in organizing the general election are not reasonable," he said.

"It is also the President, according to the decree, who determines technicalities and appoints personnel to organize the general elections," he added.

Both the PPP and the PDI have also insisted that "honest and fair" should be added to the principles governing the 1997 polls. The existing law stipulates only that general elections be conducted in a "direct, general, free and confidential" manner.

"The 1985 law on general election does not recognize any other principle than "direct, general, free and confidential," Waskito said.

Golkar has swept all previous five general elections, winning at least two-thirds of the total votes each time, while the PPP and the PDI came second and third respectively.

Later yesterday, another Golkar leader reiterated the grouping's intention to push its proposal that outdoor campaign rallies be banned in the run up to the 1997 polls.

"Do we have to repeat the methods (used in previous elections), when each election contestant mobilized its members ... to go to the sports stadium for rallies?" deputy chairman Abdul Gafur asked.

He said that the election campaigns would be more efficient and effective if each political party is allowed to speak about its programs only at indoor gatherings.

Announcing the plan, Golkar chairman Harmoko said on Tuesday that it is time for Indonesia to develop forms of election campaigning that are more "communicative".

Gafur, however, did not completely rule out the possibility of contestants being permitted to hold rallies prior to the 1997 elections.

He referred to Law No.1/1985, Government Regulation No. 37/1990 and Presidential Decree No. 8/1992, all on general elections, which allow gatherings, rallies, and the dissemination of posters and banners. (imn)

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