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KPUD members dismissed, debate canceled

Three members of the Boven Digoel General Elections Commission (KPUD) in Papua have been dismissed before finishing their duties in organizing the regional election slated for Dec

Nethy Dharma Somba and Ruslan Sangadji (The Jakarta Post)
Jayapura/Palu
Fri, November 27, 2015

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KPUD members dismissed, debate canceled

T

hree members of the Boven Digoel General Elections Commission (KPUD) in Papua have been dismissed before finishing their duties in organizing the regional election slated for Dec. 9.

Tarwinto of the Papua KPUD said that the three '€” Manfred Naa, Pomi Bungkang and Zeivenson Lomban '€” were dismissed following an order from the General Elections Commission (KPU).

'€œThey committed a violation by bringing back into the race a regent and deputy regent candidate pair [whose candidacy was] already annulled by the KPU,'€ said Tarwinto.

They were said to have conducted a plenary session to bring back the Yusak Yaluwo-Yakob Waremba pair, whose candidacy was previously scrapped because of Yusak'€™s status as a graft convict.

Due to the dismissal, the election in Boven Digoel is being taken over by the Papua KPUD.

Yusak was Boven Digoel regent from 2005 to 2010. He was reelected in 2011 but was arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) before being sworn in for embezzling Papua special autonomy funds worth Rp 37 billion (US$2.6 million). He was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison.

With the dismissal of the Yusak-Yakob pair, the Boven Digoel election has three candidate pairs remaining '€” Yesaya Merasi-Paulinus Wanggimop, Benediktus Tambonop-Chaerul Anwar and Helena Tabyarop-Frets Sarumpia.

Eleven regencies in Papua will take part in the first-ever nationwide simultaneous regional elections, presenting a total of 68 candidate pairs.

Meanwhile, in Central Sulawesi, a third-round public debate for governor-vice governor candidate pairs scheduled for Saturday was canceled because both pairs refused to participate due to tensions that marred the second-round debate on Nov. 4.

'€œWe decided to cancel the public debate because both candidate pairs no longer wanted to participate,'€ Central Sulawesi KPUD chairman Sahran Raden told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Sahran said both pairs decided not to continue with the final debate because they wanted to maintain harmony between supporters and avoid unwanted problems.

'€œNeither pair wants clashes between supporters to occur,'€ Sahran said, adding that he would consult with the KPU regarding the cancelation of the debate.

Central Sulawesi will have two candidate pairs for the upcoming local elections, namely Rusdy Mastura-Ihwan Datu Adam and Longki Djanggola-Sudarto.

Separately, Antara news agency reported that the West Halmahera regency election was feared to be postponed due to an earthquake that rocked the region recently.

North Maluku Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) chairman Sultan Alwan said that disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and haze ahead of an election could affect voting.

He said the West Halmahera KPUD and North Maluku KPUD needed to assess the risks of earthquakes so they could prepare a response should a natural disaster occur on election day.

'€œIf the earthquakes continue and evacuees cannot yet return home, it will influence the vote casting. It will be difficult for the organizers to distribute the ballots if they evacuate far from home,'€ Sultan said.

Quoting Law No. 8/2015, Sultan said that if a natural disaster occurred in an electoral district, the election organizer could postpone voting. Such a postponement, he said, was dubbed a '€œcontinued election'€.

Sultan said that if the election was indeed held in West Halmahera, organizers had to ensure that voters in evacuation centers could still participate.

Over the past week, thousands of residents from 16 subdistricts across West Halmahera have evacuated to forests and evacuation centers offered by the regency administration over fears of further earthquakes.
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