Surabaya, NU Online
Expressing doubt about the neutrality of the provincial polling body (KPUD), governor hopeful Khofifah Indar Parawansa called on the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the Home Ministry to elect new KPUD members to ensure alleged bias in the previous vote does not overlap onto the upcoming revote and recount in Sampang and Bangkalan regencies.
Khofifah's team of lawyers said in Surabaya on Thursday that their client was no longer confident the KPUD could stage a fair revote in Pamekasan, citing their track record in the previous two rounds, which were declared rigged by the Supreme Court.<>
"To ensure its fairness, the revote should be entrusted to new people at the polling body," the team's chairman Sudyiatmiko Aribowo was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying.
He said their client had learned of a plot to foil her and her running mate Mudjiono's bid to win the gubernatorial race.
He said one indication corruption had marred the previous vote was the police's reluctance to probe a number of alleged violations.
Among these violations, the lawyers said, were alleged "money politics" involving Khofifah's rival for the post Soekarwo and the association of village heads in the province. Another, they said, was the disappearance of 50 valid votes during the vote recount in Waru Timur village two weeks ago as well as procedural violations during the vote recount.
The police, the team said, should investigate the alleged violations immediately in compliance with a Supreme Court verdict handed down in response to complaints made by Khofifah.
The KPU and the government had a strong political base, they said, adding that there was still time for the KPUD to hire new personnel and to think of a new strategy to organize the vote reruns.
The Supreme Court ordered the provincial KPUD to organize a revote on Jan. 21, 2009. The result of the rerun, along with that of the vote recount in Bangkalan, will be announced on Jan. 30.
The team of lawyers also called on the KPU to order the KPUD to elect new members in the two regencies to ensure there was no lingering bias from the previous votes.
In line with the 2007 election law, the KPU has extended the current regime's term of office, which ended last month, until Jan. 30.
Mohammad Fauzan Jafar, a member of the KPUD in Sampang, said the extension was lawful "because we now know better technical and administrative methods with which to organize the race".
"If a new regime is sworn in and entrusted to conduct the revote, numerous problems will emerge including the procurement of the election logistics and the recruitment of ad hoc election committees in polling stations and districts."
The KPUD insisted that despite the Constitutional Court's imperatives, the two rivals were in their rights to reject the results of the recount and revote, which it said would not be final.
"Both have the chance to sue if they find violations during the vote recount and rerun. As for the two previous rounds, a lawsuit can be filed within three days of the KPUD announcing the results," KPUD member Arief Budiman said.
The court's decision has given both contestants the chance to seize victory after Soekarwo won a slim victory in the previous round.
The Pamekasan vote recount saw Soekarwo-Saifullah win 216,293 votes, and Khofifah-Modjiono win 195,117. (dar)
Expressing doubt about the neutrality of the provincial polling body (KPUD), governor hopeful Khofifah Indar Parawansa called on the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the Home Ministry to elect new KPUD members to ensure alleged bias in the previous vote does not overlap onto the upcoming revote and recount in Sampang and Bangkalan regencies.
Khofifah's team of lawyers said in Surabaya on Thursday that their client was no longer confident the KPUD could stage a fair revote in Pamekasan, citing their track record in the previous two rounds, which were declared rigged by the Supreme Court.<>
"To ensure its fairness, the revote should be entrusted to new people at the polling body," the team's chairman Sudyiatmiko Aribowo was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying.
He said their client had learned of a plot to foil her and her running mate Mudjiono's bid to win the gubernatorial race.
He said one indication corruption had marred the previous vote was the police's reluctance to probe a number of alleged violations.
Among these violations, the lawyers said, were alleged "money politics" involving Khofifah's rival for the post Soekarwo and the association of village heads in the province. Another, they said, was the disappearance of 50 valid votes during the vote recount in Waru Timur village two weeks ago as well as procedural violations during the vote recount.
The police, the team said, should investigate the alleged violations immediately in compliance with a Supreme Court verdict handed down in response to complaints made by Khofifah.
The KPU and the government had a strong political base, they said, adding that there was still time for the KPUD to hire new personnel and to think of a new strategy to organize the vote reruns.
The Supreme Court ordered the provincial KPUD to organize a revote on Jan. 21, 2009. The result of the rerun, along with that of the vote recount in Bangkalan, will be announced on Jan. 30.
The team of lawyers also called on the KPU to order the KPUD to elect new members in the two regencies to ensure there was no lingering bias from the previous votes.
In line with the 2007 election law, the KPU has extended the current regime's term of office, which ended last month, until Jan. 30.
Mohammad Fauzan Jafar, a member of the KPUD in Sampang, said the extension was lawful "because we now know better technical and administrative methods with which to organize the race".
"If a new regime is sworn in and entrusted to conduct the revote, numerous problems will emerge including the procurement of the election logistics and the recruitment of ad hoc election committees in polling stations and districts."
The KPUD insisted that despite the Constitutional Court's imperatives, the two rivals were in their rights to reject the results of the recount and revote, which it said would not be final.
"Both have the chance to sue if they find violations during the vote recount and rerun. As for the two previous rounds, a lawsuit can be filed within three days of the KPUD announcing the results," KPUD member Arief Budiman said.
The court's decision has given both contestants the chance to seize victory after Soekarwo won a slim victory in the previous round.
The Pamekasan vote recount saw Soekarwo-Saifullah win 216,293 votes, and Khofifah-Modjiono win 195,117. (dar)
