Parties given chance to meet quota for women

Parties given chance to meet quota for women

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The General Elections Commission (KPU) said on Tuesday the 24
political parties contesting the 2004 elections would be allowed
to add more women to their lists of legislative candidates if
they had yet to meet the 30 percent quota of women aspirants.

KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said the parties had until
Jan. 19 to meet the quota and adjust the required documents for
their legislative candidates, even though the Monday deadline for
them to submit the names of their candidates had passed.

He said the KPU would verify the lists of candidates submitted
by the 24 parties to determine whether, among other things, they
met the 30 percent quota for women or not.

"We will inform the parties if they have not fulfilled the 30
percent quota of women candidates and give them a chance to add
more names of women to the lists," Ramlan said in his office in
Central Jakarta.

Based on KPU Instruction No. 100/2003, the commission will
verify the lists of legislative candidates by Jan. 5, 2004, and
inform the parties of the results on Jan. 12 at the latest.

Without public scrutiny, the KPU is scheduled to announce the
final lists of aspiring legislators on Jan. 27 through electronic
and print media.

Senior politicians have acknowledged that many parties may
have failed to meet the 30 percent quota for women as recommended
by the Election Law.

Even those that managed to meet the quota placed their women
legislative candidates at the bottom of their lists, giving them
low priority.

The United Development Party (PPP) has only 137 female
candidates out of its 628 aspiring legislators (21 percent), the
Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) has only 58 women out of 268
legislative candidates (21 percent) and the Reform Star Party
(PBR) has 63 women out of 294 candidates (21 percent).

KPU member Anas Urbaningrum, who chairs a team to oversee the
registration of legislative candidates, confirmed that the 24
parties had been given more time to amend their documents and add
more women to their lists.

However, the parties are prohibited from changing the
numerical order of their candidates on the lists, he said.

Anas also said that during the verification period, the KPU
would also evaluate other requirements that the candidates had to
meet, including submitting bills of health from doctors from
recognized hospitals.

"On the first day of screening, we discovered that many
aspirants had not submitted medical reports," he said.

Ramlan also said the KPU had increased the budget for
disseminating information on the 2004 elections from Rp 75
billion (US$8.853,289) to Rp 115 billion.

"Rp 75 billion will be distributed to KPUDs (local KPU
offices), while the additional Rp 40 billion will be used to
promote the elections through electronic media," he said.

He said the KPU would start disseminating information on the
elections through the media by mid-January.

The general election will be held on April 5, 2004 and the
two-round presidential election on July 5 and Sept. 20.