GOLKAR'S LAKSONO ASKS KPU TO VERIFY VOTER'S LISTS' ACCURACY

Bandung, W Java, March 27 (ANTARA) - Golkar Party Vice Chairman Agung Laksono has asked the General Elections Commission (KPU) to soon verify the accuracy and validity of fixed voter's lists (DPTs) in the regions alleged to contain many mistakes.

The KPU had to do so in order to put an end to the concern raised by many parties about the irregularties, Laksono said after speaking at a Golkar campaign rally at the Gasibu square here Thursday.
"The KPU must soon prove that the allegations about duplicated names and incorrect data in the DPTs are not true so that the public and political parties will have higher trust in the elections," Laksono, who is also House of Representatives (DPR) speaker, said.
If the public's and political parties' trust in the elections increased, so would the people's participation in the polls, he said adding "therefore, the KPU must use the time it still has (before polling day) to do the verification."
Laksono also said the KPU should soon present the DPTs to the election contestants, namely the political parties, as a gesture of accountability.
He disagreed with calls by various quarters to postpone the elections on April 9, saying "the elections cannot be delayed and must be carried out as scheduled."
Meanwhile, Siliwangi Regional Military Command Chief Maj Gen Rasyid Qurnuen Aquary who was present at the Golkar campaign rally was asked to comment on reports that there were DPTs listing the names of servicemen.
He said if the reports were correct, the mistakes could not have been made because the servicemen concerned had registered themselves as voters because all servicemen had strict orders not engage in practical politics and remain neutral in the polls.
"It's not possible that they registered themselves. I think it was probably the neighborhood association's chief who put their names on the list," he said.
According to the reports DPTs had been found in certain regions that included the names of military and policemen, deceased persons, and citizens below the age of 17 years (the minimum voting age) so that many parties had questioned the validity of the DPTs issued by the KPU.