PPI to begin ballot count immediately

PPI to begin ballot count immediately

JAKARTA (JP): After 10 days of uncertainty, the General
Elections Commission (KPU) ordered the National Elections
Committee (PPI) on Thursday to immediately begin the national
ballot count for the June 7 general election.

The decision was made in a rare vote during a KPU plenary
meeting, after the commission failed to come to an agreement
through deliberation. All but three of the commission members
voted in favor of an immediate ballot count, with two votes
against the proposal and one abstention.

According to the KPU's internal rules, representatives of each
of the 48 parties contesting the elections have one vote, while
the combined vote of the five government appointees on the
commission are weighted to equal 48 votes.

The plenary session, presided over by KPU deputy chairman
Adnan Buyung Nasution on behalf of chairman Rudini, produced an
agreement that while the national vote count proceeded, the KPU
should simultaneously verify the accuracy of the ballot count
conducted by the PPI. The commission will use the C1 forms used
at some 320,000 polling stations nationwide to check the accuracy
of the ballot count.

The KPU members also agreed the commission should at the same
time settle all allegations of elections fraud and irregularities
in cooperation with the official Elections Supervisory Committee.

PPI deputy chairman A.A. Oka Mahendra said separately the PPI
would decide in a plenary meeting on Friday when the national
ballot count would start.

"We held a meeting this afternoon (Thursday), but did not make
any decision on the initial day for the vote count because many
PPI members were absent," Mahendra told The Jakarta Post.

The KPU plenary session was marked by protest when
representatives of 11 political parties walked out of the
meeting, saying the session was called to justify an unlawful
decision.

"We cannot accept the session because it annulled article 62
of the 1999 electoral law, which stipulates that the national
vote count can only begin when all complaints of elections
violations are settled," Indonesian Christian National Party
(Krisna) representative Clara M. Sitompoel announced.

Indonesian Democratic Union Party (PUDI) Sri Bintang Pamungkas
was also among those representatives who walked out of the
session.

The other protesters were the representatives of the
Indonesian Democrats Alliance Party (PADI), the National
Democrats Party (PND), the Indonesian Muslim Awakening Party
(KAMI), the Democratic Catholic Party (PKD), the Democratic
People's Party (PRD), the Indonesian Workers Party (PPI), the
Indonesian People's Party (PARI), the New Indonesia Party (PIB)
and the Democratic Islam Party (PID).

With the KPU failing to discuss disputed vote-sharing
agreements among political parties, several provincial elections
committees, including the committee in North Sumatra, delayed
their meetings on the deals until Friday.

House seats

Political observer Indria Samego lashed out at demands by some
KPU members that political parties which failed to win at least
one seat in the House of Representatives (DPR) in the general
election be automatically granted a seat in the legislative body.

"They (KPU members) make their own interpretations of the 1999
law on elections," he said after addressing a seminar at the
state-run Institute for Home Affairs Administration in Sumedang,
West Java, on Thursday.

He said minor political parties were involved in a conspiracy
in their efforts to maintain their existence.

"They collude with each other for seats in the DPR, MPR or
other high-level state institutions," he said, adding that their
maneuvers were immoral.

The MPR is the acronym for the People's Consultative Assembly.

A political researcher at the National Institute of Science,
Indria, said the government should issue a decree terminating the
membership in the KPU of political parties which failed to gain a
seat in the House.

"It's not easy to kick minor political parties out of the KPU
because the 1999 electoral law states that their membership is
valid until 2004," he said.

Several KPU members proposed in Wednesday's plenary session
that minor political parties be allocated a seat in the House
after the commission failed to reach a consensus on the vote-
sharing agreement.

"This year's general election was a multiparty election, but
the political laws fail to represent the wishes of the people
because the next DPR will only include a few parties," United
Party (PP) representative Mardinsyah said during the session.

The Jakarta office of the Independent Elections Monitoring
Committee also opposed giving minor political parties seats in
the House, asking KPU members to focus on completing the national
vote count rather than promoting their personal interests.

The independent monitoring committee also said parties which
failed to secure a seat in the House should gracefully concede
defeat and stop their political maneuvering through their
representatives in the KPU.(imn/43/40)