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Support to the Indonesian Elections 2004
 

Building on the “Reformasi” breakthrough


Channeling voice with a new proper means

Recently embarking on a freer and fairer election process, Indonesia is at an important crossroads in its democratic development. The 2004 elections will be a critical testing ground for this process.

It is essential that the coming round of elections continue to be carried out in a fair, transparent and peaceful manner. Ensuring this will require key technical support, delivery of voter information and education, as well as the active participation of Indonesian civil society.

Putting the plans together

In response to the government’s request for UNDP support in conducting these elections, a programme of activities was designed in consultation with various key Indonesian partners as well as representatives of the donor community. The resulting programme now being implemented contains four clusters of activities.

To start, basic training and skills of electoral staff are being strengthened. By the end of 2003, delivery of a comprehensive training programme for members and staff of recently established KPUs at the provincial and district levels commenced. More specific training sessions on logistics and finance will also be conducted locally. Over 20,000 members and staff of the Election Supervisory Committees (PANWAS) at the national, provincial, district and sub-district levels have also undergone training across the nation.

Ensuring that the public is well aware of how to make best use of their vote is the second focus of this programme. This will be accomplished by providing and discussing relevant voter information nationwide. Establishing a Media Centre has been essential to this. The Centre, located in the KPU, is used by more than 100 journalists on a daily basis. The Media Center works closely with KPU by drafting press releases, providing media analysis and organizing press conferences. The programme also assists the KPU in designing, producing and disseminating voter information through print and electronic media. A Vote Tabulation Centre will also be established closer to the polling day to provide accurate and timely information about provisional results.

Civil society groups are also working through their networks to implement a voter education programme. This focuses on raising awareness among voters of the importance of active participation and of making an informed choice. The programme is targeting women, first-time voters and voters in areas prone to electoral and other related conflict.

Civil society also has an important role in ensuring the fair and transparent outcome of an elections process. To that end, the programme has a working relationship with major election monitoring groups in Indonesia. These groups are developing plans to monitor election integrity, discourage fraud and intimidation on election-day, and generally affirm the legitimacy of the final result. A minimum of 160,000 short-term monitors will be deployed throughout Indonesia on the day of the election, while at least 2,000 long-term monitors will work to spread voter information and watch for elections malfeasance in local communities.

The upcoming Indonesian elections represent a key opportunity for the country to deepen and expand its democracy. UNDP is a proud supporter and partner to this important process.

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