KPU faces voter registration glitches

Abdul Khalik ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 07/25/2008 1:53 PM  |  National

With only a few months left before a finalized voter list is announced, the General Elections Commission (KPU) is struggling to overcome registration problems that could lead to invalid voter data in the 2009 elections.

On Thursday, poll observers warned glitches in the voter registration system could result in double registrations or in millions of people across the country losing their right to vote.

Observers said unless the government, the KPU and political parties improved regulations, standardized registration procedures and campaigned intensively to raise public awareness about registration, they would have incomplete and inaccurate voter data that could lead to legal battles and conflicts between political parties.

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) listed at least seven problems plaguing the registration process, which began when the government submitted population data and a preliminary list of voters to the KPU on April 5.

NDI election program manager Anastasia Soeryadinata said the absence of KPU directives on whether to use DP4 or data from the last regional election as the basis for updating voter lists had resulted in each region adopting a different registration method.

"The KPU must decide whether the voters are registered based on their actual residence or their addresses as printed on their ID cards," she told a discussion.

She said the lack of clarity could result in either double registrations or unregistered voters.

Yogyakarta provincial elections commission (KPUD) chairman Alvin expressed similar sentiments, saying his office was unclear about which method to use in the registration.

"We decided to draw up our own technical guidelines for our field workers," he said.

The Yogyakarta KPUD, considered the nation's best KPUD, found in the latest regional election a loss of over 20 percent of eligible voters due to registration glitches.

Some participants at the discussion said the KPUD's choice of method could be viewed as a violation of the 2008 election law, which requires voters to be registered based on their place of residence as printed on their ID cards.

KPU member Sri Nuryanti acknowledged the commission was split over whether to use DP4 or regional election data as the basis for voter registration. The commission is also divided over registration based on de facto or de jure place of residence.

"We are updating the data, as seen in the population figure, which now stands at 233 million people, compared to 226 million reported by the government. We are optimistic we can collect reliable and valid data," she said.

However, she said the government's late disbursement of funds for the elections had delayed the work of the KPU and KPUDs by three months.

The KPU will announce a preliminary voter list on August 8. Eligible voters will then have two weeks to see if they are listed, and if they are not, they will be allowed to file a report with poll officials in their respective neighborhoods.

"The election is everyone's responsibility, so we call on people to actively make sure their names are on the list. We urge political parties to also check whether their constituents have been registered," Sri said.

Anastasia said the absence of the poll monitoring body at regional levels also contributed to the flawed registration process.

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