PDI-P barred from 2004 elections in East Kalimantan
Rusman, The Jakarta Post, Samarinda, East Kalimantan
The East Kalimantan General Elections Commission (KPUD) ruled on Wednesday that the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI- P) could not run for seats in the provincial council during the upcoming elections.
The decision was made after executives from PDI-P's East Kalimantan chapter failed to beat a midnight Tuesday deadline to file a final and valid list of the party's legislative candidates.
The Tuesday deadline was also imposed on other political parties. "The deadline passed and it cannot be extended. The party is not allowed to run for seats in the upcoming elections," said Noersyamsu Agung, the chairman of the KPUD.
He said originally there were no problems with the list of legislative candidates submitted to the KPUD by the party. The list was signed by Imam Munjiat, the chairman of the party's East Kalimantan chapter, and its secretary-general Soekardi Jarwo Putro.
But, several days ago, another list of legislative candidates signed by the two East Kalimantan PDI-P leaders was submitted to the KPUD. The names of the candidates on this second list were different from the names on the first list.
Soekardi claims that the second list was submitted without his knowledge. "I've never signed a second list of legislative candidates."
Noersyamsu said the KPUD gave the party a Tuesday midnight deadline to resolve the differences, but none of the party leaders turned up.
"The KPU has no right to interfere in the internal matters of a party. The internal conflicts of a party must be settled by themselves," he said.
The KPUD invited the PDI-P executives to a meeting on Wednesday, but only Soekardi appeared. Imam Munjiat was absent from the meeting.
"I can't comment. This is an internal matter of the party," said Soekardi.
Speaking later, Imam Munjiat said the party had yet to formulate a response to the KPUD decision. He said there would be a meeting that would be attended by all of the party chapter executives to discuss the decision.
Asked about the alleged manipulation of the second list of legislative candidates, Imam said he was prepared to face in court anyone who claimed something was amiss with the list of legislative candidates.
Meanwhile, a KPUD member, Maskur Melle, announced that 759 legislative candidates from 23 political parties, excluding PDI- P, had passed the verification process.
The decision was made in a KPUD plenary meeting held on Wednesday.
"Only 27 legislative candidates (from the 23 parties) were disqualified from participating in the upcoming election. Eighteen were men, and the rest were women," he said, as quoted by Antara news agency.
They were disqualified because some of them had resigned, while others failed to complete the administrative requirements set by the KPU.
The list of successful candidates will be forwarded to the central KPU for final validation.