Presidential poll still valid: VP

JAKARTA: Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Thursday that the 2004 presidential election remained legitimate despite the conviction of a number of General Elections Commission (KPU) members on corruption charges.

"The election is about the Constitution, while the criminal acts by KPU members are another thing," he told the press at his office.

Kalla was commenting on a statement by KPU chairman Nazaruddin Syamsuddin, who was jailed on Wednesday for seven years for corruption in the national poll body, that the presidential election had been rendered "illegal" by his conviction.

The Anticorruption Court found Nazaruddin guilty of receiving a total of Rp 5.3 billion (US$530,000) in kickbacks from insurance company PT Bumiputra Muda, which won a Rp 14.9 billion contract from the commission to provide insurance during the election process. --JP