Use non-violent means to settle electoral grievances, Sultan says

Yogyakarta, NU Online
Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X called on political parties and legislative candidates intending to demand a settlement of perceived irregularities in Thursday`s legislative elections to do so without resorting to violence.

"If there are political parties and legislative candidates who have a problem with the way the legislative elections have beeN conducted, they should try to settle it without committing anarchic or destructive acts," the sultan who is a presidential aspirant and a member of the Golkar Party`s advisory board said here Saturday.<>

He was commenting on the fact that a number of political parties and legislative candidates had voiced complaints about problems that had arisen in Thursday`s polls such as erroneous or illicit data in fixed voter`s lists, logistics mistakes or mixups, anomalies in balloting and vote counting procedures.

"Some political parties and legislative candidates claim these problems have adversely affected their electoral ratings. And therefore, they plan to sue the election authorities which is something right to do," the sultan was quoted by Antara news agency as saying.

"The actions they are planning to take is something normal because they have a right to do so. This right is guaranteed in the law," he added.

The sultan also said the bodies empowered by the law to settle the election-related problems were the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) and the Contititional Court (MK). (dar)