Party screening to resume

JAKARTA: The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights will soon conduct the second screening for political parties to determine whether or not they meet the stipulated requirements.

Ramly Hutabarat, the ministry's director of state administrative affairs, said on Wednesday that nine political parties had so far registered for screening and invited others to register by July 4 at the latest if they wanted to join the second screening.

Only four parties met the requirements in the first round of screening.

"The screening will take place from July 15 to July 30," Ramly said.

Nearly 240 parties have registered with the ministry but they have to reregister in order to determined whether or not they meet requirements as political parties.

Certification is mandatory for political parties before they undergo another round of verification by the General Elections Commission (KPU) to determine whether or not a political party is eligible to contest in 2004 elections.

The screening will last until the end of September. --JP