Panwaslu probes violation reports

Panwaslu probes violation reports

JAKARTA (JP): The Election Supervisory Committee said it would
continue to look into reports on election violations in eight
provinces.

Deputy Chairman Todung Mulya Lubis said his committee has
investigated election violations in North and Southeast Sulawesi
and the next investigation would be directed at reports from
South Kalimantan and South Sulawesi.

"Committee Chairman Soedarko and his team leaves for South
Kalimantan today. This team will recommend necessary actions for
handling violations in the two provinces," he said after meeting
with chairs of the Provincial Election Committees of the eight
provinces on Monday.

Todung said the violations in the eight provinces could be
classified into three groups -- violations during the election
day, during elections in the troubled province of Aceh and
manipulations in tallying.

"Re-elections will be held in all areas where the elections
were run unfairly and where they were run under threats and
intimidation," Todung, a noted lawyer, said.

Todung, also the national coordinator of the University
Network for Free and Fair Elections (Unfrel), added recounting of
votes would be conducted in areas where vote-rigging was found.
Elections in Aceh and reruns must be held this month, he said.
Private observers have said a poll could not be conducted in Aceh
before the conditions were safe. About 2 percent of the eligible
voters turned up for the poll in a number of districts where they
were held.

The eight provinces where election violations were reported
are South Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Southeast
Sulawesi, Bengkulu, West and East Nusa Tenggara and Maluku.

In South Sulawesi, 37 political parties demanded the
Provincial Election Committee to organize a rerun in North and
South Luwu regencies because of numerous violations during the
balloting day and the tallying.

Todung pledged the committee's work would be completed before
July 8 -- the official date to announce final results for the
House of Representatives and the lower level legislative bodies.

Miriam Budiardjo, a committee member, said the committee's
late establishment also contributed to the late handling of
accumulated cases.

"Violations have been rife since January while the Election
Supervisory Committee was established late in March," she said.

Deputy chairman of the National Election Committee, Hasbalah
M. Saad, who also attended the meeting, said many political
parties declined to accept election results in many regions
because of the late handling of election violations.

"All these factors have constituted a chain of weaknesses
which have also contributed to the late process of the vote
counting," he said, citing that until Monday, only about 60
percent of the total votes had reached the National Election
Committee.

North Sulawesi

Todung, who led the supervisory committee team to investigate
election violations in North Sulawesi, said his team recommended
that reruns should be held in places where violations were found
instead of the whole province.

Reports of violations particularly in Bitung, Bolaang
Mongondow and Gorontalo regencies should first be verified by the
regional committees.

He said during the balloting day, vote counting in a number of
balloting places in the regencies were conducted at night using
candle light and in the absence of witnesses from all political
parties.

"It was also reported that many voters in the three regencies
cast their votes under threats and intimidations and poll results
in several sub-districts were manipulated," he said.

He said his team also recommended the regional Election
Supervisory Committee in the three regencies to investigate
alleged money politics committed by A.A. Baramuli, an executive
of the ruling Golkar.

"If he is proven guilty of buying votes, the supervisory
committee will ask President B.J. Habibie to take actions against
him," he said.

Baramuli is also chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council.
(rms/30)