VZCZCXRO9066
OO RUEHDT RUEHPB
DE RUEHJA #1147 1880914
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 070914Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2765
INFO RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC

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