KPU chided for announcing incomplete 'final' voter list

Adianto P. Simamora ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sun, 10/26/2008 10:57 AM  |  Headlines

The KPU did meet its promise to announce the "final list of voters" eligible to vote in next year's legislative elections by Friday as scheduled.

But what the General Elections Commission (KPU) announced was not the permanent list of voters, drawing criticism from election monitors.

When announcing the list, the KPU said it was still waiting for updated voter information from West Papua and Indonesia's overseas election bodies around the world.

There are 170 million people eligible to cast their ballots in the April 9 legislative elections, with about 59 percent of them living on Java island, the KPU said.

On Aug. 8, the commission announced a preliminary list of more than 172 million voters for the upcoming elections.

The commission has not received the newest list from West Papua, citing its geographical problems as the reason for its delay in finalizing the data, said KPU Chairman Abdul Hafiz Anshary.

The preliminary list of voters in West Papua stood at 475,716 people and from overseas it was about 1.6 million.

Abdul Hafiz said the KPU had given the overseas election committees until Nov. 20 to report their updated voter lists.

There were some 145 million people included in the final list for the 2004 elections but only 124 million of them cast their ballots.

Elections watchdogs criticized the KPU for allowing changes to the "final list of voters" after it had been announced to the public.

"If the KPU says it is the final list, they must close the door to any updated information. They must be consistent with their own words," People's Voters Education Network Coordinator Jerry Sumampow said.

"KPU's priority appears to be just 'meet the deadline' -- not to have accurate information."

He said the final list of voters would be used as the basis for calculating the election equipment needed for the legislative elections.

"If the KPU continues to change the number of voters, when will they make a final decision on the total amount of required election equipment, as in the number of paper ballots or polling boxes," Jerry said.

The 2008 law on legislative elections requires the KPU to print paper ballots equal to the total number on the final voter list. It also allows the KPU to print 2 percent more than the total number of voters.

The law also states that the KPU chairperson can be jailed for up to two years and fined Rp 240 million (US$24,000) if found guilty of allowing the election body to print ballots exceeding 2 percent of the total voters.

The Center for Electoral Reform Executive Director Hadar N. Gumay said the KPU could have delayed the announcement until it finished verifying all the eligible voters both at home and overseas.

"It would have been wise if the KPU delayed the announcement until after all the provinces submitted the verified data," he said, warning that this case could affect the quality of the upcoming elections.

Elections Syndication and Democracy Coordinator Agus Melaz lashed out at the KPU for giving the public less access to its election preparations.

"The KPU has never explained to the public what problems they encountered in determining the final list of voters," he said.

A joint survey by the KPU and the International Foundation for Electoral System and the Polling Center showed that 61 percent of 2,500 voters were unaware when the April elections would take place.

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