Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Aceh has decided to hold its provincial, district and mayoral elections on Nov. 14, but the absence of supervisory bodies at each level is raising concerns of possible campaign and polling irregularities.
While the Aceh Independent Electoral Commission (KIP) agreed this month to the poll date, there has been no sign of movement to form election supervisory committees (Panwaslus) to oversee the three levels of elections.
"I am worried that the election stages organized by the KIP will not face any sort of supervision, which will only increase the potential for cheating," said Muhammad Jafar, a legal and political affairs staff member for the Aceh governor.
The law governing the Panwaslus is vague, saying the committees must be in place for an election but not clarifying at what stage in the process they should be ready by.
"It is true that legally there is nothing governing this, but logically, they are needed to supervise and prevent any irregularities in the field," Jafar said.
Jafar, who headed the KIP when the province successfully held simultaneous regional elections in 2006, said that with little supervision, any suspected electoral violations would not be investigated, resulting in nagging doubts about the legitimacy of the results.
"What is dangerous is when the cheating is systematic and massive because it could be the basis for the Constitutional Court to cancel or change the results of the regional elections in Aceh if anyone challenges them," he said.
His hope is that legislative councils at all levels of the province can quickly organize the selection of the five members to sit on their respective Panwaslus. Under the law, the names of the candidates are then sent to the national Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) for approval.
Jafar said KIP would begin verifying candidates as soon as it began receiving names.
Mukhlis Mukhtar, a lawyer specializing in political law in Aceh, said the Panwaslus were necessary to provide oversight at every step of the elections.
"The experience is that regional elections in Aceh are always rough and full of intimidation," he said. "Even with a Panwaslu, a lot of terror and intimidation still takes place. What would happen if there were no Panwaslu?"
He called on the KIP to suspend the Nov. 14 election date and reassess only after all the supervisory committees across the province were in place.
Mukhlis a former Aceh provincial legislator, said that proceeding without the Panwaslus would expose the election results to legal challenges. He also said the unilateral action by the KIP to determine an election date without consulting the Aceh administration or the provincial legislature ran counter to the law.
Akmal Abzal, a member of the KIP, said the commission had been compelled to act by the General Elections Commission (KPU) in Jakarta, which had issued a statement on May 2 demanding that the KIP set a date. "The KIP could no longer wait, because time is now really pressing," Akmal said. He added that the local government could still pass legislation to modify the schedule for the elections.