Poll supervisors lack authority

Poll supervisors lack authority

UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi: The Election Supervisory
Committee is not authorized to ban political parties for election
law violations including vote-buying and misuse of poverty
alleviation funds, a poll monitoring activist has said.

Todung Mulya Lubis, deputy chairman of the official poll
watchdog and coordinator of the University Forum for Free and
Fair Elections (Unfrel), said here recently that it was up to the
Supreme Court whether or not to act on alleged violations of the
election rules.

"Our authority is too insignificant to stop the practice of
money politics or other forms of crime," he said.

He said poll watchdogs could find evidence of money politics
from the results of mandatory audits conducted on parties
contesting next week's elections.

"The problem is many of the parties haven't had their revenues
and spending audited," Todung said.

The audits are funded by the General Elections Commission
(KPU). (27)