T

he House of Representatives looks set to follow through with a proposal lodged by nearly 40 legislators to launch a political investigation into the fiasco surrounding the voter list and the millions of unregistered voters denied a ballot during the legislative election, which they claim is a serious breach of human rights.

Hasto Kristianto, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) member representing the legislators forwarding the inquiry, said the allegations of fraud involving the voter list was a major electoral crime. He claimed millions of registered voters across nine provinces had actually passed away or moved to other areas, while millions of potential voters were left unregistered, essentially denying them their right to vote.

"I think we all agree that simply downgrading the seriousness of this voter list fraud to a mere technical, administrative error will lead to an increase in public mistrust of democratic mechanisms," he said while addressing the House's plenary session on the matter in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The inquiry proposal was signed by 38 legislators from the PDI-P, the Golkar Party, National Awakening Party (PKB), United Development Party (PPP), National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Reformation Star Vanguard (BPD). The House's internal regulations require political support from at least 13 legislators in order to carry out such a political investigation.

Hasto said to vote in the general election was a basic constitutional right for every citizen of the state, and the government and the KPU had the responsibility of protecting the democratic system.

"First and foremost, voting rights are the fundamental right of all citizens in line with the nation's legacy and culture as a democratic state."

He said many legislators threw their weight behind the inquiry after discovering many voters in their electoral districts were not registered. Many parties claimed this led to their poor performance in the recent legislative polls.

While major parties look set to accept the results of the legislative election and begin focusing on the upcoming presidential election, smaller players have threatened not to sign it.

Hasto said both the government and the KPU had to be held accountable for the poor management of the legislative election regardless of the large budget allocated for the ballot.

"The government budgeted around Rp 230 billion (US$22 million) to update its demographic information and administration system. The Home Ministry also received an additional Rp 667 billion in 2008 and Rp 174.6 billion in 2009 for the general elections."

"So, the main question is with such a massive budget, who should be held accountable for the fraud and so far neither the government or KPU has claimed full responsibility. For them to take accountability is also a main reason for us to propose an inquiry," he said.