Seat allocation get mixed reactions

Seat allocation get mixed reactions

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Electoral activists gave on Friday mixed reactions over the
decision by the General Elections Commission (KPU) to allocate
550 House of Representatives seats for the nation's 32 provinces
in the 2004 general elections, with more than 50 percent of the
seats going to Java.

Hadar N. Gumay of the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) said
the disparity of seats given to Java and to other provinces was
appropriate, as Java accounts for 59 percent of the country's
214.8 million population.

The KPU has allocated 303 seats, or 55 percent, to provinces
in Java in proportion with the voter population represented on
that island.

Ray Rangkuti of the Independent Election Monitoring Committee
(KIPP) criticized the seat allocation, since it was not in line
with efforts to narrow the social and economic gap between Java
and other islands.

Hadar further said the allocation of House seats should have
been pegged closer to the actual voter representation for each
respective province.

"If the KPU intends to calculate highly and low-populated
areas individually, and not simply determine Java as a highly
populated area and (islands) outside Java as a low-populated
area, we will have a fairer distribution of seats," Hadar said.

He also complained about the KPU's assumption that new
provinces -- Banten, Gorontalo, Bangka Belitung, Riau Islands and
West Irian Jaya -- should only receive a minimum of three seats
each, as in past elections.

"Such an assumption is too severe. For example, they should
have assumed that highly populated Banten, which was separated
from West Java, should have more than the three seats it had in
the 1999 elections.

"I also don't agree with their assumption that the new
provinces already existed during the 1999 election. There are
better ways to arrange this," Hadar said.

Ray warned that the great disparity in the allocation of House
seats allocation would incur protests from several provinces
outside Java.

"There will be parties that will question the validity of the
KPU's decision on the House seat allocation," he said.

He also pointed out that several provinces that did not meet
the quota of 325,000 voters per seat had been given at least
three seats to comply with the General Elections Law.

"This means that the seats must be taken from other
provinces," he said.

He thus called on the KPU to hold a public discussion or
consult with the legislative council at the provincial and
regental levels and ask for feedback on the seat allocation.

"The KPU should then request a final, legal opinion from the
Constitutional Court," he said.

The KPU, which has also completed the allocation of seats for
all legislatures at the provincial and regency levels, must now
tackle the job of establishing electoral districts.