Papua governor fears delay in elections
Papua governor fears delay in elections
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura, Papua
Papua governor JP Solossa has expressed his fear of a possible
delay of several days in the legislative elections scheduled for
April 5 for technical, geographical and logistical reasons.
Speaking before visiting high-ranking government officials,
Solossa said most Papuans in remote areas had not yet been
informed about the general election, and that election materials
had not reached all remote regencies.
"The challenging geographical condition and transportation
problems have hindered local election organizers in reaching
remote areas to relate all necessary information on the
elections," he said at a meeting here on Tuesday.
Attending the meeting were home minister Hari Sabarno, General
Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Nazaruddin Syamsuddin,
Indonesian Military chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto and National
Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, who were there to observe
election preparations in the province.
The governor also said that of the 20 regencies in the
province excluding West Irian Jaya, nine had not yet received any
materials for the legislative elections.
"Only 11 regencies have received ballot boxes, while eight
other necessary materials, including ballot booths, ballot
papers, ink and list of legislative candidates, have not yet
reached all regencies," he said.
He said regents agreed at a meeting on Monday in Jayapura to
postpone the legislative election if the materials did not reach
remote regencies several days before the elections.
The regencies in question can only be reached by plane, and
aside from the infrequent fights, changing weather conditions had
often delayed flights, said the governor.
Responding to the growing doubt, KPU chairman Nazaruddin
concurred with local officials that the general election in the
province might be delayed, adding that the KPU had readied a
contingency plan for a worst case scenario.
He was, however, annoyed by the governor's report on the slow
distribution of election materials, as the KPU had prioritized
delivery to Papua along with several other provinces because of
their geography.
"I don't know where the elections materials for the province
have been held up, but the KPU has already sent them from
Jakarta," he said, adding he would check up on the matter.
Nazaruddin also said the KPU had asked the Indonesian Military
to help distribute the materials in the case of an emergency.
Da'i said he was optimistic that the elections would be free
of disturbances from the local separatist movement, as the police
would deploy 6,000 officers and a small airplane to maintain
security during the elections.