Kompas -
November 13, 2009
Jakarta –
The number of voters represented by the nine political parties that obtained
seats in the national House of Representatives (DPR) following the 2009
legislative elections is less that who are not represented.
This was
revealed by former General Election Commission (KPU) Deputy Chair Ramlan
Surbakti during a discussion titled "Evaluating the Integrity of the 2009
Election Results" in Jakarta on Thursday November 12.
The number
of voters registered for legislative elections by the KPU in November 2009 was
171.27 million. However the number of votes represented by the nine political
parties with seats in the DPR is only 85.05 million people or 49.66 percent.
The remainder, 86.22 million voters, is not represented by the 560 members of
the DPR.
The number
of unrepresented voters is based on the 49.68 million registered voters who did
not use their right to vote and the 17.49 million voters who did vote, but
whose vote was declared invalid, plus 19.05 million voters who cast a valid
vote but the parties they voted for did not obtain a seat because they failed
to reach the electoral threshold (parliamentary threshold) to get into
parliament.
Surbakti
added that the number of citizens not represented by the parties in the
parliament would be even greater if the number of people who were entitled to
vote but were not registered are included. This would swell further if the
total number of "ghost" voters on the electoral list were also
counted.
University
of Indonesia political science lecturer Andrinof Chaniago said that the low
level of representation in the DPR has resulted in legislators having no roots
in society. It is this situation that has triggered a discrepancy between the
DPR's attitudes and the wishes of broader society, as has occurred in a number
of recent cases. The DPR often runs away from the demands of the people they
represent.
Those
elected to the DPR, who have no roots in society, are the result of an elitist
electoral system that functions in the name of the people, yet, in reality, the
members of the DPR are not one with the ordinary people. (MZW)
[Translated
by James Balowski.]
