Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The government has begun screening documents of 47 new political parties hoping to contest next year's general elections.
The 47 parties were selected from 112 political groups registered with the Justice and Human Rights Ministry to take part in the 2009 national polls.
"Our team will need 60 days to verify all documents before awarding legal entity status to the legitimate parties (for the elections)," Syamsuddin Manan Sinaga, the ministry's director general for legal administration said in Jakarta on Thursday.
He said no more time would be given for parties to submit documents for verification because the ministry closed the registration process late Wednesday.
Among the new parties being verified are the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) led by Gen. (ret) Wiranto, who lost the 2004 presidential election, and the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI), chaired by Meutia Hatta, the current state minister for women's empowerment. The National Democratic Party, led by former administrative reform minister Ryas Rasyid, and the Labor Party, led by Muchtar Pakpahan, were also included in this list.
The verification process audited whether the new parties had met requirements stipulated in a 2007 law on political parties for contesting the polls.
The law, effective last December, requires new parties to have at least 50 members with chapters in at least 60 percent of the country's 33 provinces, and branches in 50 percent of the more than 500 regencies. Political parties must also allocate at least 30 percent of their executive seats to women.
"We will check the validity of data with relevant local administrations," said Syamsudin.
He said the approved parties would undergo further verification checks by the General Elections Commission, scheduled in April. "If they pass these verifications, the new parties will join a further 50 parties that secured legal entity status for the upcoming elections in 2004," he said.
In 2003, the justice ministry verified 50 political parties. However, only 24 of them participated in the 2004 legislative elections. "All political parties already granted legal entity status remain eligible for the elections next year," he said.