Six parties exempt from verification

Six parties exempt from verification

Arya Abhiseka, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The General Election Commission (KPU) announced on Wednesday that
it would exempt the six largest parties from the verification
process in a bid to maintain its commitment in holding the
general election ahead of time.

"This decision is greatly influenced by our intention to meet
the schedule of holding the general election on April 5, 2004,"
said Ramlan Surbakti, deputy chairman of the KPU.

He explained that once the six major parties passed the
verification process at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights,
they would be ruled eligible by the KPU to contest the next
election, contrary to a previous plan for the KPU to verify every
single party contesting in the election.

"Again, the six major parties will still have to go through
the verification process at the Ministry of Justice. After they
pass, we will give them a 'passport' to contest the next
election," he said.

The six major parties are the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the Golkar Party, the United
Development Party (PPP), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the
National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Crescent Star Party (PBB).
They are the only ones that met the 2 percent national electoral
threshold in the 1999 elections and according to the newly
endorsed election bill, they automatically qualify for the 2004
election.

KPU had earlier set a date for the general election on April 5
to allow for a new president to be inaugurated before October
2004, when president Megawati Soekarnoputri's term officially
ends.

The party verification process conducted by the KPU will start
in October at the earliest when the Ministry of Justice and Human
Rights finishes its verification.

The ministry will shortlist only parties which have chapters
in at least half of the country's 30 provinces and branches in at
least half of the country's 410 regencies and municipalities.

Under KPU verification a party which fails to prove it has
chapters in at least two-thirds of the country's provinces and
two-thirds of the country's regencies and recruited at least 1
per 1,000 population in each regency will miss the cut.

There has been skepticism that the ministry and the KPU will
finish the verification process before 2004, leaving just a short
period of time for the rest of the election preparation.

KPU had recently urged the justice ministry to speed up the
verification process. In his response, the Minister of Justice
and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said the KPU had no
authority to rush the ministry on the grounds that the law does
not stipulate any deadline.

Meanwhile, Agnita Singadikane, a spokesperson for PDI
Perjuangan, warmly welcomed KPU's decision, saying that her party
deserved the exemption as it had clearly reached the 2 percent
electoral threshold.

"At the moment our party is taking time to prepare for the
election, but we will be ready very soon," she said.

Marzuki Ahmad of the Golkar Party said the exemption would
save much time for the parties and the election organizers.

"Golkar fully supports the decision and will register with the
ministry as soon as possible," he said.