Poll result protests 'must have evidence'

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 07/07/2007 10:59 AM

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Political parties must provide substantial evidence if they want to challenge the validity of results in general elections, says a former 2004 Election Supervisory Committee official.

""Only 20 out of 430 cases brought to the Constitutional Court came out as winners after the 2004 elections because most lacked supporting documents,"" Didik Supriyanto told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

""There are certain requirements to file lawsuits on the results of general and legislative elections,"" he said.

First, candidates for the presidency, their running mates and political parties must file with the Constitutional Court within three days after the election results are announced and provide supporting documents.

Second, the number of votes in question must be significant enough that it could change the result of the election.

An expert staffer at the Constitutional Court, Wasis Susetio, said previously that the court's duty was only to resolve disputes over general election results.

""We don't have any investigation teams in the field so we are just depending on the evidence given by the political parties,"" he said.

Meanwhile, Ferry Mursyidan Baldan of the Golkar Party said it was natural for political parties to take all factors into consideration during elections. ""It is the nature of political competition,"" he told the Post.

He added, however, that political parties are often unwilling to file lawsuits out of the belief it would make no difference to election results.

Yasonna H. Laoly from the Indonesian Democratic of Struggle (PDI-P) said the limited time allowed to litigate election results at the Constitutional Court often hampered the efforts of political parties to file lawsuits.

""We cannot gather substantial evidence in such a short time,"" he said.

""We hope the official reports on the calculation of the number of votes will be given to all political parties in the future so we can easily track any deception,"" Yasonna said.

He added that members of political parties nationwide should be more aware of the need to monitor for electoral deception.

He also suggested the Constitutional Court post representatives in each electoral region.

Wasis said parties often refrained from filing with the Constitutional Court out of belief it would not be beneficial.

""So they just wait for another party to bring an election dispute to the court. But there is also the possibility that there could be political negotiations behind the unwillingness of the parties to litigate their cases in Court,"" he said.

He added that this was understandable considering Indonesia's ""trade-off"" political culture. He cited the current Jakarta gubernatorial election, which initially had many candidates, but ended up with only two.

""The parties, which initially supported other candidates, just wanted to increase their bargaining positions,"" he said. (05)

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