Yorris slams poll delay

MANOKWARI, West Irian Jaya: Yorris Raweyai, a candidate in the West Irian Jaya gubernatorial election, has demanded that the central government replace all members of West Irian Jaya General Elections Commission due to the postponement of the election.

"The committee members are unprofessional," said Yorris, a candidate from the Golkar Party.

He was responding to the decision by the Ministry of Home Affairs to delay the election, initially set for July 28, because the local elections office considered preparations for the poll to be insufficient.

The decision was conveyed to the election commission on July 27, a day before the election was scheduled to take place.

In contrast, Rev. Hofni Siambiak supported the delay.

"Thank God it has been delayed. If it hadn't been, it would have been chaos as many eligible voters remain unregistered," said Hofni. -- JP