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Voters still not given access to legislative candidate list
Voters were still being denied access to the list of legislative candidates eligible to run in next year’s election two days after the national elections body announced the list was ready
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Voters were still being denied access to the list of legislative candidates eligible to run in next year’s election two days after the national elections body announced the list was ready.
Under the 2008 election law, the public may comment on or criticize legislative candidates within 10 days of the General Elections Commission (KPU) announcing the list.
But as of Sunday, the KPU had not published the names of the legislative candidates either on its website or via other media outlets.
“This is a serious mistake. The KPU seems to be blocking access for members of the public to get detailed information about the legislative candidates running in the next election,” Sebastian Salang, chairman of the Indonesian Parliamentary Monitoring Forum (Formappi), told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
“How can the public scrutinize the track records of the candidates if they cannot see the names on the preliminary list?”
The KPU announced on Friday that 11,868 of the original 14,020 legislative candidates proposed by political parties had passed administrative screening.
The KPU dropped 2,152 candidates from the preliminary list for failing to meet administrative requirements.
Indonesia will hold legislative elections in April 2009 to elect new members of the House of Representatives and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD). There are 38 parties contesting the upcoming election.
The KPU has published the list of DPD candidates on its official website.
Sebastian argued that the KPU had focused its efforts on meeting its deadlines for election preparations but had paid less attention to improving the quality of the national polls.
He also expressed concerns that the KPU would continue to “open the door” for parties to submit additional requirements to pass their candidates.
Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) director executive Hadar S. Gumay also criticized the “poor performance” of the KPU in preparing quality elections.
“I see the work of KPU is very poor. They were not able to work professionally to make the upcoming polls better,” he said.
He urged the KPU to put detailed data of the legislative candidates on its website, including their curricula vitae, because the 10-day period given to the public was too short.
“It is a crucial step for the public to check the track records of the candidates before casting their votes,” Hadar said.
He called on members of the public to report on each candidate’s weaknesses to help other voters become familiar with their track records and achievements.
“Please, don’t hesitate to lodge a protest if you know that a legislative candidate is implicated in a corruption case,” he said.
Chairman of the People’s Voter Education Network (JPPR), Jerry Sumampow, attributed the KPU’s poor performance to its failure to take firm action against political parties.
“Since the beginning, the KPU has been too soft in dealing with the parties,” he said.
