COURT ALLOWS UNREGISTERED VOTERS TO VOTE USING IDs

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, July 6 (ANTARA) - The Constitutional Court (MK) ruled on Monday evening that eligible voters who were not registered with the electoral rolls (DPT) were allowed to exercise their voting rights in Wednesday's presidential polls by producing valid ID cards or passports.

        The MK made the decision after two petitioners filed a judicial review with the court on the presidential and vice presidential election law which stipulated that voters who were allowed to cast ballots in the presidential polls were those already registered with the permanent voter's rolls.

        Earlier in the day, presidential candidates Jusuf Kalla and Megawati Soekarnoputri visited the General Elections Commission (KPU) to submit two proposals in an effort to solve problems with the DPT.

        Kalla and Megawati asked the KPU to update its DPTs --allegedly marked up with millions of duplicated names of voters while millions of others were not included in the electoral rolls.

        Besides, the two presidential candidates also urged the KPU to allow those unregistered voters to exercise their constitution rights in the election by using identity cards.

        After an intensive talk, the KPU finally accepted the proposal made by Jusuf Kalla and Megawati Soekarnoputri to correct and update its fixed voters' lists for the presidential poll on Wednesday.

        "We agreed to update the DPTs and re-examine them to strike off duplicated names, the names of voters who have passed away, active military/police personnel and unmarried voters who are under 17 years old," KPU Chairman Abdul Hafiz Anshary told a press conference.

        He said the KPU had instructed its offices in the provinces and mayoralties, subdistrict election committees (PPK), polling committees (PPS) and polling organizers' groups (KPPS) to update their DPTs.

        "We have also ordered the KPU rank and file to give soft copies of the updated DPTs to the campaign teams of the presidential candidates and polling witnesses," he said.

        With regard to a request from the two presidential candidates to let unregistered voters cast their votes using their identity cards, Anshary said the KPU could not decide on the matter because it had to follow Law 42/2008 on Presidential Elections and Law No. 22/2007 on the organization of elections.

        "Personally I agree with the use of identity cards but we face the laws which forbid the KPU to issue a regulation against them. So, this case is left to the Constitutional Court to decide," he said.

        In the meantime, the Constitutional Court decided on Monday evening that unregistered voters are allowed to exercise their voting right in next Wednesday's presidential poll by showing their identity cards.

        "We hereby partially accept the judicial review request.." Constitutional Court Chairman Mahfud MD said when reading the court's decision on a request for a judicial review of Law No. 42 / 2008 on Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections.

        The judicial review request was submitted by Refly Harun and Maheswara Prabandono and concerned Article 28 and Article 111 point (1) of Law No. 42 / 2008 on Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections.

        Article 28 mentioned that "In order to be able to exercise his or her voting rights, an Indonesian citizen as intended in article 27 must be registered as a voter in the electoral roll."

        In the meantime, Article 111 point (1) reads "voters who have the right to cast their votes at polling stations include: a. voters who are registered in the permanent electoral rolls (DPTs) at the polling stations concerned; and b. voters who are registered in additional voters' rolls."

        The petitioners were of the view that the two articles in the presidential election law were against Article 27 point (1), Article 28 D point (1) and Article 28D point (3) of the 1945 Constitution.

        The Constitutional Court's judges said that Article 28 and Article 111 of the presidential election law were constitutional as long as they were intended to include unregistered citizens with a certain condition. The certain condition is that unregistered citizens in the electoral rolls can exercise their voting right by producing their valid ID cards, or valid passports for Indonesian citizens abroad.

        With the MK decision and the readiness of KPU to update its DPTs to overcome the dispute over alleged problems with the electoral rolls has been laid down. In addition, the presidential polls could be held on Wednesday based on schedule after various calls to postpone it before the problems of DPT are resolved.

        Earlier, a politician of the Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), Eva Kusuma Sundari, accused that there were about 49 million people who were not registered in the DPTs. But this was denied by KPU Chairman Anshary asking the PDIP politician to prove it. "Eva Kusuma Sundari has to prove her statement that millions of voters are not yet registered in the DPT," KPU Chairman Abudl Hafiz Anshary.

        According to Vice Presidential Candidate Prabowo Subianto who pairs with Megawti, in a private TV station talk on Monady the DPTs were marked up with about 25 million fictitious voters.***1*** (T.A014/H-NG/A/H-YH)