Parts of Papua not yet ready to hold elections

Parts of Papua not yet ready to hold elections

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The legislative elections in several regencies in Papua
province may be held at the latest by next Saturday should
election materials not have arrived before then, the head of the
provincial elections committee said.

Ferry Kareth was quoted by Antara as saying on Sunday that the
General Elections Commission (KPU) has left it up to the local
KPU offices in the province to decide the best measures to take
following the government's decision to hold the legislative
elections nationwide on Monday except in remote areas where the
necessary supplies had not arrived.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri had cited Papua and West
Irian Jaya as provinces where the polls could be delayed. The two
provinces respectively have 1,141,602 voters and 343,252 voters
out of the country's over 147 million eligible voters.

Kareth said his office has recommended to the provincial KPU
office that 11 regencies that had not received all the required
election materials could hold the legislative polls
within five days after the nationwide elections on April 5.

With a long list of grievances against Jakarta among Papuans,
the government had been hoping for successful elections in Papua
and the new West Irian Jaya province. The forming of the new
province itself was highly controversial as locals said that
Jakarta had ignored their wishes after they had eventually
accepted the law on Papuan regional autonomy.

A large military presence for many years here has yet to wipe
out the separatist Free Papua Organization (OPM). Ahead of
Monday's vote, a alleged OPM member, Maryus Kogoya, was shot by
police in Jayapura. He had been attempting to escape arrest,
police said, adding that he had been charged with encouraging
people not to vote.

Several members of the Papuan elite are, however, trying to
work within the system with a number of activists and clergymen
standing as candidates for the legislative bodies. They include
Boy Eluay, the son of slain Papuan leader Theys Eluay, who is
running for the National Awakening Party (PKB).

Illiteracy also remains a problem in Papua. Reuters on Sunday
quoted a village chief as saying that illiterate voters would be
assisted by election committee members. Voters could give their
choice to an election polling official, witnessed by independent
observers, and the official would cast the ballot on his/her
behalf, said Yunus Haluk, chief of Siepkos village outside the
highland town in Wamena. He said most voters in his village were
illiterate.

Antara also reported that observers from the European Union
would monitor the polls in Biak Numfor regency.