Poll watchdog asks for repolling in some areas

JAKARTA (JP): The official Supervisory Elections Committee asked the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the National Elections Committee (PPI) on Thursday to immediately rehold polls and recount ballots where necessary.

The PPI should recount the ballots of the 15 provinces which have completed their vote counts, while waiting for poll results from the 12 provinces where problems in the vote tallying still exist, Antara reported the supervisory committee as saying.

"Delaying tallying will not be fair to millions of voters in areas where there are no problems, because they have waited for such a long time for the final results," committee member Ramelan Surbakti said.

The official poll watchdog also asked the KPU to maintain their schedule for the ballot count and not get sidetracked by small issues.

The supervisory committee also recommended the Supreme Court take action against Golkar executive A.A. Baramuli for his alleged involvement in money politics.

The news agency quoted the committee as saying Baramuli had attempted to buy votes in Sulawesi.

The allegation against Baramuli, who also chairs the Supreme Advisory Council, is just one of a number of reported elections violations.

The supervisory committee said complaints and reports from the public indicated A.A. Baramuli was involved in money politics in a number of areas. The supervisory committee also alleged the People's Sovereignty Party (PDR) committed similar violations.

Ramelan said the recommendation was approved at a plenary meeting of the supervisory committee, held after committee members visited 12 provinces where a number of elections violations were reported by provincial elections committees and independent poll watchdogs.

The supervisory committee has been criticized for being slow to respond to reports of poll violations.

The committee also complained about the lack of trust shown it by the General Elections Commission, which established its own team to investigate reported elections violations in a number of provinces.

Checking violations of the law on elections is the authority of the supervisory committee.

The committee investigated reports of poll violations in South Kalimantan, West Sumatra, Riau, Bengkulu, West and East Nusa Tenggara, East Timor, North Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, South Sulawesi and Maluku.

The supervisory committee also asked that civil servants who violated the bureaucracy's neutrality in the general election be temporarily suspended or dismissed, Antara reported.

Allegations of civil servants supporting certain political parties were uncovered in Malang, East Java, and Luwu Utara, Pasaman and Goa in South Sulawesi, according to the committee.

The supervisory committee also said alleged manipulation of poll registration forms and ballots, the trading of insults among parties contesting the polls and other cases of violations of the law on elections were reported to respective police departments by provincial supervisory elections committees.(anr)