Budget for 2009 elections 'hefty but not final'

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 11/05/2007 5:08 PM

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The proposed hefty budget for the 2009 general elections of some Rp 47.9 trillion (US$5.2 billion) was not a final figure and could still be reviewed, chairman of the General Election Commission (KPU) Abdul Hafiz Anshary said Sunday.

""The figure is not our proposal ... it is just an estimate for election preparations in 2008 and 2009,"" Abdul told Detik.com..

""KPU's official proposal was only Rp 22.3 trillion while the remaining of Rp 25.6 trillion was a prediction of fund provided by the Regional Budgets (APBD).""

Out of the Rp 22.3 trillion fund, Rp 8.2 trillion was allocated for preparations in 2008, while the remaining Rp 14.1 trillion was slated for activities in 2009.

Ahmad said the hefty budget was in anticipation of the three phases of the election, including the legislative and two rounds of presidential elections.

""If there is only one round of presidential elections, there will be unused funds,"" he said.

""The remainder will surely be returned to the state's coffers.""

As for the use of regional budgets, Ahmad said there was no obligation for regional administrations to support the 2009 polls through the regional budget, unlike the 2004 polls.

On Friday, Home Affairs Minister Mardiyanto said the proposed budget was extremely costly and the state budget (APBN) might not be able to cover it.

""I have explicitly said that there would not be any assistance from the APBD ... but, I (will) try to look for the opportunity of (allocating funds from APBD),"" Mardiyanto said.

The minister said efficiency around the funding of elections was achievable through ongoing revisions into laws on general elections by the House of Representatives.

Ahmad said a reduction of polling stations would be one way to reduce costs.

""The Law No. 12/2003 on Legislative Elections stipulates a polling station should accommodate 300 voters leading to the need of almost 685,000 polling stations nationwide,"" Ahmad said.

""The number of polling stations needed can be reduced ... a polling station could hold 600 voters.""

By halving the number of polling stations, Ahmad said the number of officials needed to man the stations was also reduced.

Ahmad said he wanted to remind the public there were 24 political parties contesting the 2004 polls compared to an estimated 50 parties in 2009.

""We should also consider the ballot paper (and whether) it should contain the candidates' names and pictures,"" he said.

""It would cost more as it would be as large as a newspaper.""

Ahmad also said there had been 32 provinces and 417 regencies and mayoralties in 2004, compared with 33 provinces and 485 regions in 2009.

""KPU will still evaluate the budget and made an inventory of election logistics,"" he said.

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