JUST AHEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, COURT RELAXES

UNCLAS JAKARTA 001147

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP
NSC FOR J. CARTIN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM ID
SUBJECT: JUST AHEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, COURT RELAXES
VOTING RULES

REF: JAKARTA 01135 AND PREVIOUS


1. (U) This message is Sensitive but Unclassified -- Please
handle accordingly.


2. (SBU) SUMMARY: Just ahead of the July 8 presidential
election, Indonesia's Constitutional Court has decided to
allow voters who are not registered on the voter list to cast
ballots by showing their national identity cards. According
to NGOs, millions of eligible voters were disenfranchised
during April's legislative elections because their names were
left off the list. This situation became a political issue
as President Yudhoyono's opponents used it to imply that his
administration had deliberately manipulated the list. It
will be difficult for the Election Commission to implement
the Court's ruling at such short notice. END SUMMARY.

COURT RULING JUST AHEAD OF ELECTION


3. (SBU) Voters, political parties and candidates alike
welcomed the Constitutional Court's July 6 decision to allow
unregistered voters to vote using identity cards in the July
8 presidential election. The Court decided that the poor
quality of the much criticized voter list denied many their
constitutional right to vote. The Court ruled in favor of
two lawyers who sued after being denied the right to vote in
the April 9 legislative elections because--despite having
registered--their names did not appear on the voter list.
The Court's decision came two days before the presidential
election.


4. (SBU) Election Day is a national holiday and the streets
of Jakarta are already emptying as voters begin heading back
to their villages to vote. All voters are required to vote
in their home voting district. Unregistered voters must go
to the polling stations early in the morning to provisionally
register by showing their identity cards, while voters living
abroad can use their passports. Unregistered voters will be
allowed to cast their ballots only during the last hour of
voting. Voter turnout in Indonesia is traditionally high and
this decision may result in an even higher turnout. (Note:
Roughly 75% of registered voters voted in the 2004
presidential election and roughly 70% in the recent
legislative elections.)

VOTER LIST IRREGULARITIES BECOME A CAMPAIGN ISSUE


5. (SBU) Yudhoyono's opponents in the presidential
race--former president Megawati and Vice President
Kalla--have been expressing concern re the voting list for
months. Megawati's party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI-P),and Kalla's party, Golkar, have repeatedly
asked the National Election Commission (KPU) to revise the
voter list, and the KPU reassured them that it has done so.
PDIP officials and others claimed, however, that the
government had still not made the final voter list available,
though the law requires this.


6. (SBU) The opposition's political pressure peaked on July
6 before the court ruling when Megawati and Kalla made
unannounced visits to the KPU, demanding that it immediately
fix problems with the registry. As a result of this
discussion, the KPU commissioners signed a letter supporting
the petition before the Court for the use of identity cards
to vote. The Court ruled in favor of that hours later.

PROBLEMS EXPECTED WITH IMPLEMENTATION


7. (SBU) Although most feel that this decision was long
overdue, some observers sounded a note of caution. The KPU
supported the petition under enormous political pressure. It
is already overwhelmed by the technical demands of election
administration and will have a difficult time logistically
implementing this decision consistently. The decision's
timing, 36 hours before the election, leaves the KPU no time
to create and distribute procedural guidance. That said,
most agreed with President Yudhoyono, who declared that the
ruling "is a smart choice and the right verdict, and a
solution to ensure the successful running of the presidential
election."

HUME