Poll watchdog asks for repolling in some areas
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)