Unfrel states readiness for poll monitoring

JAKARTA (JP): Four months after it was founded, the University Network for Free and Fair Elections (Unfrel) declared on Wednesday it was prepared for its poll monitoring tasks.

Unfrel coordinators said they had so far managed to garner support from 159,000 student volunteers in 22 provinces, a figure which exceeded its target of 150,000 volunteers.

"Unfrel is ready to attend to all the monitoring processes of the 1999 elections," a statement, read out by student Destanul Aulia from the North Sumatra provincial secretariat, said.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) has estimated there will be 250,000 polling booths across the country.

Unfrel national secretariat coordinator, student Agung Supriyo, said the network would deploy two volunteers in every polling booth.

Destanul said Unfrel had started its monitoring function since the beginning of the voter registration process, which started April 5 and would end on May 4.

Unfrel, which in the past three days conducted a training-for- trainers program, will select samples for electoral districts to monitor. To determine the validity of its monitoring, it would take half the number of each province's regencies monitored for monitoring sampling. In each of these regencies sampled, all districts would be monitored.

Of all districts monitored, Unfrel said it would sample 20 percent of villages. In the sampled villages, 20 percent of the total number of polling booths would be monitored.

"It is a methodology we assume can eliminate geographic and demographic differences" from one monitored region to another, said the statement signed by Jambi student Fauzi Syam, Destanul Aulia and Dicky C.P. from the national secretariat.

Unfrel monitoring results would be sent to the General Elections Commission and the Election Supervisory Committee, to be announced on a weekly basis through the mass media.

A 22-member national secretariat presidium would be in charge of public announcements concerning Unfrel's monitoring results.

Unfrel excluded from its monitoring coverage the provinces of East Timor, East Nusa Tenggara, East Kalimantan, Bengkulu and Maluku. Unfrel staff cited lack of time and technical preparations necessary for the provinces.

Unfrel is one of three poll watchdogs recognized as having nation-wide networks and is coordinating with the Independent Elections Monitoring Committee (KIPP) and the Rector's Forum.

Separately KPU spokesman I Wayan Lasia, said 27 poll watchdogs had registered to obtain official accreditation.

Unfrel said it received the first part of its assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (Rp 5.1 billion) and the United States Agency for International Development (Rp 4.3 billion).

In the East Java capital of Surabaya, Antara reported on Wednesday that the Rector's Forum coordinator for the province said the organization would recruit 52,000 volunteers from 71 universities in the province.

Lecturer Eko Waluyo Suwardyono said the forum was targeting 52 percent of regencies in the province, or 19 regencies. He said the rest would be taken care of by KIPP and Unfrel. (aan/edt)