Lampung police name 5 KPUD members as suspects over breach of election law

Oyos Saroso H.N. ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Bandarlampung   |  Tue, 10/07/2008 10:03 AM  |  The Archipelago

The Lampung Police have named five members of the North Lampung General Elections Commission (KPUD) as suspects for allegedly breaching the election law.

Using information in a report filed by an NGO, United North Lampung Coalition (KLUB), police said the KPUD members had violated the election law in recounting the North Lampung regency election on Sept. 3.

The North Lampung Police Crimes Affairs director, Sr. Comr. Eldi Azwar, said the decision to name the KPUD members suspects was made based on evidence from the investigation and witnesses' statements.

Eldi said the five KPUD officials, Mulki Adenie, Suheri, Zuliza Amwa, Marthon and M. Thio Aliansyah, would be charged for violating Article 118 of the General Election Law.

"We sent letters to the five, asking them to come to the police station for questioning, but they didn't come at the requested date," he said Monday, adding the police were likely to detain the five suspects for further investigation.

After recounting the votes, the KPUD announced the pair of Zainal Abidin and Rohimat Aslan, supported by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), were the winners of the election.

However, in the first count, the pair of Bachtiar Basri and Slamet Haryadi, backed by a coalition of political parties, had the most number of votes.

In the second count, the KPUD allegedly included invalid votes from seven districts: Abung Surakarta, Abung Semuli, Kotabumi, South Abung, East Abung, Abung Kunang and Central Abung. The inclusion of these votes handed victory to Zainal-Rohimat.

In the second count on Sept. 14, Zainal-Rohimat won 100,125 of the 282,927 valid votes, or 35.38 percent, while Basri-Slamet won 99,421 valid votes or 35.13 percent.

However, based on the district election commission's (PPK) first count on Sept. 6, Zainal-Rohimat won 98,703 votes or 35.07 percent, and Basri-Slamet won 99,300 votes or 35.28 percent.

"We decided to recount the votes because the PPK considered many Zainal-Rohimat votes invalid as the voters also punched a hole through the pictures of Zubaidah Hambali and Subhan Effendi," North Lampung KPUD head Mulkie Adenie said.

Supporters of Basri and Slamet protested against the KPUD recount because it had their nominee as the loser.

The pair's lawyers reported the dispute to the police and filed a complaint with Lampung court, asking the court to cancel the recount results.

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