Papuans woefully unprepared for local elections
Papuans woefully unprepared for local elections
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
The provincial offices of the General Elections Commission (KPUD)
in Papua said they were unprepared to organize the direct
elections for regional heads in June due to limited preparation
time.
A member of the Papua KPUD, M. Musa'ad, told The Jakarta Post
there were still some regency councils in the province that had
not yet elected their speakers -- and gave the example of
Tolikara regency.
Regency and municipal councils in Papua have not convened on
their budget hearings and therefore have not yet allocated funds
for the election, he explained.
In addition, the population affairs offices in each of the
local administrations have still not completed the necessary data
on the number of eligible voters, despite a Feb. 28 deadline.
Election materials, which should have been produced in Papua,
are still not available because the equipment needed to produce
them have not been provided.
"We have decided during the technical working meeting to hold
both the local elections at the same time as the gubernatorial
election, which was earlier slated for November," he said.
"Organizing them both simultaneously will be more cost-
effective as expenses can be reduced from 30 percent to 40
percent," he explained. The 21 KPUD offices' inability to
organize the election was disclosed in a motion on Feb. 26.
It has been reported that Rp 175 billion (about US$20 million)
would be required just for the gubernatorial election. The money
is to fund three substantial components: Rp 55 billion for
salaries of the election workers, Rp 58 billion for equipment and
other services and Rp 62 billion for operational expenses.
"That is just the cost for the gubernatorial election. If both
the elections (gubernatorial as well as regency/municipality
elections) were to be combined, it would at least reduce the cost
for workers' salaries and operations," he explained.
Musa'ad added that they would discuss the problems encountered
by the KPUD offices with Papua Governor JP Salossa.
"But if the governor is still persistent in holding the
elections in June, then every local administration must be
totally involved in making the election a success without waiting
for the regional budget sessions to allocate funds for the
elections," he said.