Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The General Elections Commission (KPU) has asked political parties embroiled in internal conflicts to solve their problems by Monday, when it plans to name which party factions are eligible to contest the 2009 polls.
KPU Chairman Abdul Hafiz Anshary said Friday the poll commission would keep accepting registrations from any party, including those plagued by internal dispute.
"There is a party with three different boards of executives taking registration forms. We served them since they all claimed to be the legitimate leaders of the party," Abdul told reporters after a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
Internal split has rocked the Marhaen Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI Marhaenism), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Indonesian Democratic Vanguard Party (PPDI), three of 74 political parties that have passed administrative screening.
The KPU is set to hold a meeting Monday to determine which of the factions within the troubled parties are eligible to continue in the registration process. "We must choose only one of them," said Abdul.
Seventy-four political parties have been cleared to register for the KPU's screening process. As of Friday, 52 had taken registration forms, with the deadline to pick up the forms falling on Saturday.
KPU has set the period between April 14 and May 14 for its return of the registration forms. The KPU then requires three months to verify the parties, before the eligible contestants are announced on July 5 at the latest.
In response to the conflicts, the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) urged the KPU to bar the dispute-ridden parties. "The KPU must reject and return the registration forms of all parties which have more than one board of executives," Cetro director Hadar Gumay said in a statement.
The PKB, the fifth largest faction within the House of Representatives, split after party executives loyal to co-founder Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid dismissed Muhaimin Iskandar as the party's chairman last week. Muhaimin, however, resists his dismissal, which he said was illegitimate. Muhaimin's faction took the registration forms on Wednesday, while his rivals went on Friday.
Abdul said the KPU would cross-check data on the parties with the Justice and Human Rights Ministry. "The parties must report any changes to their leadership, logo or names to the ministry. We will rely on the ministry's data to determine which factions are eligible," Abdul said.
The KPU has announced the legislative elections would be held on April 5, 2009, to select members of the House, provincial and regional legislative councils and the Regional Representatives Council.
KPU member in charge of verification Andi Nurpati said the verification process in the field would check whether parties met requirements set in the 2008 political party law.
The law requires a party 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 over 500 regencies. The law also obliges the parties to allocate 30 percent of their central board executive seats to women.