In 2004
Indonesians participated in a historic series of elections, in April in what
are widely regarded as the most democratic elections for legislatures held
since the 1955 Sukarno-era elections, and in July and September for the first
direct elections for the presidency. Between 200,000 and 250,000 voters (c.
0.2 per cent of total voter turnout) voted outside Indonesia at
these elections. Voting outside Indonesia
for national parliamentary bodies has been a constant feature of Indonesian
elections since the first post-independence direct popular election—that for
the national People’s Representative Council in September 1955.
Concern to
preserve the voting rights of a large external population of immigrant workers
and students, mostly resident abroad for a relatively short period, had led to
external voting provisions being included in the 1953 Election Law. External
voting was managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Indonesians who met the
qualifications to vote but were overseas and living in a city where Indonesia had
diplomatic representation could register to vote for the national legislative
body at the relevant embassy. They were registered to vote for the electoral
district in which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters was located—the province of Jakarta. Overseas voting committees
(PPLNs) were formed at each Indonesian diplomatic mission by the ambassador to
manage electoral registration, voting and the counting of ballot papers.
Similar
arrangements continued under the 1969 Election Law, which governed the six
Suharto-era ‘elections’ for the national People’s Representative Council (DPR)
held between 1971 and 1997. The first post-Suharto era election, in 1999, also
continued these arrangements, although PPLNs made up of party representatives
now replaced the bureaucrats of the ministries of home affairs and foreign
affairs of the Suharto era. External electors could still vote only for the
DPR, and their votes continued to be added to votes for the province of Jakarta.
Constitutional
changes between 1999 and 2002 significantly altered the structure of the organs
of the Indonesian state. They resulted in a significant overhaul of electoral
management—the setting up of an independent National Election Commission (KPU),
and the adoption in 2002 and 2003 of new electoral laws. Elections for the DPR
and regional representative councils (DPRDs) were now to be held using an open
list proportional representation (PR) system. The system adopted requires that
voters must vote for their preferred political party and may also vote for
their preferred candidate from that party’s candidate list for the relevant
electoral district. (Previously, a closed List PR system, in which only party
names/symbols appeared on the ballot papers, was used.) The KPU also now had to
divide each council’s area into electoral districts, each returning between
three and 12 representatives. Previously, elections for the DPR had been based
on the provinces as electoral districts, and elections for DPRDs were held ‘at
large’ within each council’s area. A new second chamber of the national
parliament, the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), was to be elected by a
Single Non-Transferable Vote (SNTV) system, using each province as an electoral
district. All these elections were to be held on the same day. Subsequent
presidential elections were to be held using a Two-Round election system.
The
complexity of the new electoral arrangements made any significant changes to
the external voting arrangements difficult. The vastly increased number of
electoral districts provided even greater administrative difficulties in
providing external voting facilities for elections to provincial and local
representative councils. (For elections prior to 2004, electoral districts for
the DPR and provincial DPRDs were equal to the number of provinces (27 in
1999), and for local DPRDs equal to the number of regencies/municipalities (c. in 1999). For the 2004 elections there
were 69 electoral districts for the DPR, 32 for the DPD, 211 for the
provincial DPRDs and 1,745 for local DPRDs.) The relevant electoral laws
(Law no. 12 of 2003 on Elections, and Law no. 23 of 2003 on the
Election of the President and Vice-President) stated that external electors
could vote only in elections for the DPR and the presidency.
The
increase in the number of national electoral districts and the introduction of
an open list voting system was also decisive in restricting change to the
framework for external voting for DPR elections. It was argued, successfully,
that it was not possible for external voting stations to cope with
administrative materials for the 69 national electoral districts, and that
neither the political parties nor the electoral administrators had the capacity
to provide information at all external voting locations about the candidates
standing on party lists in all these districts. To simplify the administration,
the KPU determined that for the 2004 elections votes cast by external voters
would continue to be amalgamated with votes cast in the Jakarta province. However, the Jakarta province was now
split into two electoral districts for the DPR elections. Arguments were made
for continuing the historical arrangement whereby all external votes were
amalgamated into the votes for the electoral district where the headquarters of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is located, but this was not accepted. Instead,
external votes were divided into what the KPU believed would be relatively
equal shares. Votes for the DPR from external voters in Malaysia and Singapore
were amalgamated with votes for one Jakarta
electoral district, and votes from external voters at all other locations were
amalgamated with votes for the second Jakarta
district.
The
administrative arrangements for external voting for the 2004 elections were
therefore similar to those for previous elections. The process was managed by
the KPU, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. External voting
facilities were located at Indonesian diplomatic missions and managed at each
location by an independent PPLN, appointed by the KPU. Election supervisory
committees (Panwas) were also established at each external voting location.
Panwas are a uniquely Indonesian institution, formed at each election
administration site. They are responsible to the KPU and charged with
supervising the election processes, handling complaints, resolving disputes
that do not involve a breach of the law, and reporting on alleged breaches of
the law to the relevant authority.
Indonesians
overseas who met the normal qualifications to vote were able to register at the
Indonesian diplomatic mission in the city in which they were resident. PPLNs at
each mission were responsible for registering them: registration could be done
in person, by email or by post. Electors registering overseas were not included
in the population counts used to determine the number of seats in the DPR allocated
to the Jakarta
province, or to the districts within the province. A single electoral register
was constructed for each mission, later to be broken down into lists to be used
at each polling station within the mission. (The electoral law sets a maximum
of 300 electors per polling station.)
Voting in
person at diplomatic missions was held simultaneously with voting in Indonesia.
Observers, party agents and Panwas members had the same rights to observe the
election processes at external voting locations as their counterparts in Indonesia. For
the 2004 elections external voters could also apply to lodge postal votes,
which had to be received by the relevant mission within ten days of election
day. Votes lodged in person and by post at external voting locations were
counted at that location and the results faxed or emailed to the KPU’s
headquarters in Jakarta.
For the
three elections in 2004, between 405,000 and 460,000 persons registered as
external electors, of an estimated 2 million Indonesians overseas.
External voter turnout at these elections, at between 55 per cent and
60 per cent, was significantly lower than turnout within Indonesia.
Funding
requirements for external voting are specifically recognized in the KPU’s
budget. For example, in its budget proposals for the 2004 elections, the KPU
sought parliamentary approval for allocations of over 57.5 billion
Indonesian rupiah (IDR—c. 6 million US dollars (USD), or
13 USD per registered external voter) for the costs of administering
external voting for the April 2004 legislative elections. This did not include
the costs of voter information, the printing of ballot papers, and central
administration for external voting. Actual costs are not known.
During the
period in which new election laws were being developed for the 2004 elections
there was some discussion, initiated by civil society organizations, as to
whether external electors could also be eligible to vote in elections other
than those for the DPR and the presidency, but such proposals were not strongly
argued or seriously considered. The administration of external voting for
around 2,050 national, provincial and local government electoral districts was
deemed too difficult. It was also argued that, while external voters may
maintain a connection to Indonesia’s
national affairs, this could not be said to be true of the affairs of a
particular province or local government area. Since the 2004 elections, there
has been no further public discussion about altering the current external
voting arrangements.
