S

outh Sulawesi is being viewed as a barometer for gauging the success of the regional elections to be held nationwide on Dec. 9 because of its high potential for conflict.

The chairman of the Election Organization Ethics Council (DKPP), Jimly Asshiddiqie, said that the political development in the province was relatively high and conflicts have often occurred during regional elections in the past, forcing the local election bodies to do their jobs of maintaining the integrity of reliable elections under difficult circumstances.

'€œThere were many good things and bad things committed here, which accounts for why South Sulawesi is considered a barometer for the simultaneous regional elections,'€ Jimly said during a seminar on the 2015 elections held at Hasanuddin University, Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Tuesday.

However, aside from South Sulawesi, he said two of the other nine provinces to have regional elections this year, West Sumatra and Papua, were also considered prone to conflict.

To avoid them, Jimly is calling on the election bodies, contenders and voters to maintain integrity and reduce cheating during the balloting.

'€œThe KPUD [election body] has to be independent. The bureaucracy has to be neutral and vote buying has to be reduced to a minimum,'€ he said.

He added that the current election system, which banned the mobilization of supporters and limited banners, could be a real challenge.

Despite the limitations, Jimly expressed optimism that voters would still be enthusiastic about practicing their right to cast ballots.

As the elections approach, some regions are still facing challenges, including a shortage of election funds.

Two of the 11 regencies to have regional elections in South Sulawesi this year, Selayar and North Toraja, are lacking money.

South Sulawesi KPUD chairman Iqbal Latief said Selayar needed Rp 18 billion (US$1.2 million) for the election, but the approved budget was only Rp 10 billion. North Toraja, similarly, needed Rp 13 billion, but the approved budget was Rp 12.5 billion.

Central KPU chairman Husni Kamil Manik, however, expressed optimism in spite of the smaller election budgets in some regions, saying that supplies were being procured and that President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo had agreed to help handle the budget problem.

Meanwhile in Central Java, a new fixed voters list (DPT) was drawn up for the Sragen regency election during a plenary session on Monday as 248 voters were not included on the previous list.

Ibnu Prakosa of KPUD Sragen blamed the situation on the data finalization officers who he said were not being careful in conducting their jobs. '€œThey missed adding the 248 voters onto the list,'€ Ibnu said on Tuesday.

Separately, Sragen Election Supervision Committee (Panwaslu) chairman Slamet Basuki said that the 248 voters were significant as their numbers exceeded the number of additional ballots already printed as a reserve, which are supposed to amount to 2.5 percent of the DPT total.

'€œIf the new list had not been made the TPS fears there would have been an insufficient number of ballots,'€ Slamet said.