Parties told to submit bank accounts
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Political parties eligible for next year's elections must submit details of their campaign fund bank accounts to the National Elections Commissions (KPU) not later than seven days after they have been declared eligible to participate, a KPU member has said.
KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti also said on Monday that all political parties would have to submit their annual financial statements detailing their revenue and expenditure since their establishment until they were declared legitimate political parties by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.
"All of these reports must be audited by independent auditors who are not linked to any political parties or vested interests," said Ramlan.
He also said that parties, including those not eligible for to run in the elections, would have to submit financial statements on their income and expenditure from the moment they were declared legitimate parties until Dec. 31, 2003.
The KPU is expected to announce on Tuesday the names of the political parties that have been cleared to contest the 2004 elections.
The country is due to hold legislative elections and its first ever direct presidential election next year.
As of Monday, at least 21 of the 40 political parties undergoing factual verification had failed to meet the requirement of having branch offices in at least two-thirds, or 21, of the country's 30 provinces. KPU members, however, refrained from saying on Monday from saying that these political parties would be barred from next year's legislative elections.
However, KPU member Mulyana W. Kusuma, who heads the party verification team, suggested that next year's elections would be participated in by less parties than contested the 1999 elections. The 1999 general election was contested by 48 parties.
"Aside from the six parties which passed the electoral threshold in the 1999 election, maybe about 15 or so others will be able to meet all the requirements," he said in his office.
Only six parties are assured of places in next year's elections as they have met the two percent electoral threshold in the 1999 election. They are the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Golkar, the United Development Party (PPP), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the National Mandate Party (PAN), and the Crescent Star Party (PBB).
On Tuesday, the KPU is slated to start naming the political parties that will be allowed to participate in next year's election. Since not all provinces have submitted their verification reports, the KPU will announce the parties eligible to contest the 2004 elections in stages, between Dec. 2 and Dec. 7.
"We will name those which have passed the electoral threshold, those which have met the requirements to contest the elections and those which have failed to do so," Mulyana said.
Factual verification is the final test for political parties bidding to contest the 2004 elections, after the earlier administrative screening conducted by the KPU last month.
During factual verification process, the KPU determines the number of provincial chapters to be examined based on the documentation the party in question has submitted to the commission.
Law No. 12/2003 on general elections states that a political party can contest elections if its existence is recognized by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights and it has a local executive board in at least two-thirds of the country's 30 provinces.