The dead support DPD candidates

The dead support DPD candidates

MATARAM, West Nusa Tenggara: The use of identity cards of deceased people are among irregularities found in applications by candidates here to contest next year's election of West Nusa Tenggara's Regional Representatives Council (DPD).

Members of the General Elections Commission (KPU) in the province said on Friday they had uncovered several other violations by candidates who are soliciting support for their DPD bids that requires a minimum quota of 2,000 copies of identity cards (IDs).

In West Lombok regency, a verification team of the provincial KPU found that at least two IDs of dead people were used by candidates as evidence of support for their DPD bids.

The IDs were taken from a migrant workers recruitment firm in the regency, the KPU members said.

They added that some West Lombok DPD aspirants also used the IDs of local citizens who were working in Malaysia or had become Malaysian citizens.

In Bima regency, a campaign team for the candidates visited dealerships to "buy" IDs belonging to car or motorcycle buyers at Rp 5,000 per copy, they said.

Normally, prospective buyers have to give copies of their IDs in order to buy cars or motorcycles in installments.

The local KPU members said other candidates also used IDs of poor people collected by the local administrations as requirement to get cheap rice.

Provincial KPU chairman Mahali Fikri said people, who found that their IDs had been used by DPD candidates without their consent, should report it to the police.

Earlier, the provincial KPU announced that 40 percent of the 135,000 IDs to support 46 DPD candidates were damaged, illegal or had expired. --JP