April 5 elections kick off new voting system

Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The most populous Muslim country in the world's 147 million voters have been called to the polls to elect a new Parliament on April 5. The government has chosen this date, a national holiday, so that citizens will have more time to cast their ballots.

The government ensured that in regions where elections will be conducted at a later date (due to delays in the arrival of ballots and ballot boxes) voting days will be declared bank holidays as well. 

The General Election Commission (GEC) announced the postponement of elections in other provinces due to the aforementioned reasons. Meanwhile hundreds of students have protested in front the GEC building for the staggered election days.  

The outcome of votes will tell if the country is heading along a path to democracy (taken up again in 1999) or whether it has still feels nostalgia for 40 years of dictatorship under Suharto's regime. General elections will also reveal whether there is a preference for moderate or Islamic fundamentalist parties in a country where 87% (183 million) of the population is of the Muslim faith.     

Competing for parliamentary seats will be two nationalist secular parties. The first is the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) of current president Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of the country's founding father, Sukarno. The other is the Golkar Party, which held power during Suharto's dictatorship.     

General elections will be an important test for the PDI-P Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle currently in power. The party has recently seen a drop in support and must deal with major internal divisions. President Megawati Sukarnoputri, in particular, will have to battle  her two younger sisters who will compete under two separate minor parties.    

The Golkar Party is searching for new leadership, since one of its most important candidates, General Wiranto, withdrew from  presidential elections scheduled for this June.    

Wiranto has been accused by the United Nations of crimes against humanity, including persecutions in Timor Est during the territory's 1999 referendum for independence.  Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, the millionaire daughter of Suharto, has also decided to run for president, but under a different party than Golkar.

The main Islamic parties are the United Development Party of Hamzah Haz; the National Revival Party of Abdurrahman Wahid; and the National Command Party headed by Amien Rais. The three will form a coalition to battle the two secular parties which won a majority of votes in 1999.

The Communist Party will also take part in elections, a party the country's Constitutional Court ruled legitimate last April 1. Communists had been outlawed from competing in elections since 1965.

The political climate is also marked by major worries surrounding the country's reformed voting system. GEC deputy chairman Raglan Surbakti said: "With ballot cards still being printed and newspaper headlines still anxiously wondering whether everything will be ready in time, I often wake up in the middle of the night writing down what I have to do the next day."

In addition to registering the country's 147 million lawful voters (out of a total population of 217 million) the GEC has created 2025 new voting districts in just 6 months, has examined 24 political parties and 448,705 candidates contending for 15,276 seats across the nation, including those for a new Regional Council of Representatives headquartered in Jakarta.   

Based on the new voting system, for the first time voters will be able to cast their ballots for a single candidate, by selecting one from a list prepared by each party in addition to choosing the party itself, as was the case before.

In a country with a high degree of political corruption people fear that this new voting system will not assure transparency at the polls. Politicians have made it obligatory to vote for parties, but not so for individual candidates. The new system does not even establish requirement's according to one's residence: of the 155 candidates in the province of Papua, 81 are residents of Jakarta. (MR)

• indonesia
• general
• elections
• corruption
• dictatorship
• democracy