PREPARATIONS FOR 2018, 2019 ELECTIONS CARRIED OUT WELL by Fardah

Jakarta, Dec 26, 2017 (Antara) - The National General Elections Commission (KPU) has been very busy preparing the third simultaneous regional head elections (pilkada), to be held in 2018, and the legislative as well as presidential elections in 2019.

         Indonesia will organize the simultaneous pilkada in 17 provinces, 39 municipalities, and 115 districts across the country on June 27, 2018.  
    The legislative and presidential elections will be held on April 17, 2019, with a campaign period from Oct 13, 2018 to April 13, 2019.    
      The number of eligible voters for the 2018 pilkada is 158 million, or some 80 percent of the total number of eligible voters for the presidential and legislative elections in 2019, which is around 197 million.

        The Commission recently completed the rechecking of the results of the corrected administrative verification of 14 political parties, and two of them failed to pass.

          Twelve political parties have passed the administrative verification and will advance to the process of factual verification, Arief Budiman, KPU chairman, noted.

         The two political parties that failed are Berkarya and Garuda. The 12 parties that passed include Perindo, Solidaritas Indonesia (PSI), Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) for Struggle, Hanura, Nasdem, PAN, PKS, Gerindra, Golkar, PPP, Democratic Party, and PKB.

          The factual verification process to check the existence of the party officers and 30 percent allocation for women's representatives in the parties' organizations began on Dec 15, 2017.
  For the 10 old political parties, the factual verification was carried out only in North Kalimantan and five new districts in Southeast Sulawesi.    

    According to the Law No. 7 of 2017 on general elections, which was signed by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) on Aug 16, 2017, a presidential candidate can be proposed only by a party or a coalition of parties having at least 20 percent of seats in the Parliament.

        In addition, the KPU has received data on the list of potential voters (DP4) from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Foreign Ministry.

          "This is an important part of the implementation process for the elections, which is KPU's core task. Since yesterday, the KPU has been granted access to the domestic resident server; so now, our population data at home and abroad are getting better, and this reduces the potential for conflict," Budiman explained.

          The DP4 data was submitted by Hadi Prabowo, Secretary General of Ministry of Home Affairs, and AM Fachir, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, at Hotel Borobudur, Central Jakarta, and was received by Budiman.

          "The DP4 is required for the 2019 General Elections, and DAK2 (sub-district aggregate population list) is required for the district/municipality (DPRD) election level. The DAK2 have been submitted on Nov 27. The voters' data from the central government will be forwarded to the districts/municipality and the PPS (voting committee) for update and adjustment to the real conditions in the field, before it is fixed as DPT (permanent voters' list)," Prabowo stressed.

          The population data in the Home Affairs Ministry was recorded at 261 million, with 189 million having compulsory ID cards. The recording of population data, such as iris and fingerprints, will guarantee that there will be no duplication of voters.

            Fachir remarked that the data recording on Indonesian citizens abroad had been improving in every election. The obstacles faced in the recording of the Indonesian citizens¿ data abroad happen generally, because of their limited movement to report to the embassy or the Consulate General in countries where they stay.

         "The data of Indonesian citizens abroad is crucial to ensure they carry out their aspirations. Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has invested in building a database of Indonesian citizens abroad," Fachir emphasized.

         Indonesia held the second simultaneous direct regional head elections in 101 regions across the country, covering the areas from the westernmost province of Aceh to the easternmost province of Papua on Feb 15, 2017.

         The elections took place in seven provinces to elect governors and deputy governors, in 76 districts to elect district heads and deputy district heads, and in 18 municipalities to elect mayors and deputy mayors.

         According to data of the home affairs ministry, the voter turnout was over 65 percent.

         Last September, Jokowi urged the people not to be easily provoked by different political views, as the 2018 pilkada was approaching.

        "I would like to urge everyone to be careful. Do not let differences separate us, especially now that the political year is approaching, where elections to find provincial leaders will be held across the country," he stated, adding that the public must maintain the country's unity and sovereignty.

    (f001/INE)
EDITED BY INE/a014

(T.F001/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 26-12-2017