General election supervisory body regrets Gus Dur`s "threat"

Jakarta, NU Online
The General Election Supervisory Commission (Bawaslu) regrets the "threat" of Nation`s Awakening Party (PKB) senior leader Abdurrahman Wahid or Gus Dur that his party would call on the public not to use their voting right in the 2009 polls, a spokesman said.

"It will be a matter of great regret if there are people who will instigate the public not to vote," Bawaslu member Bambang Eko Cahyo said here Friday (20/6).<>

Cahyo was referring to Gus Dur`s statement on Thursday that his party would boycott the 2009 general elections if nothing was done to prevent or overcome vote-rigging and other fraudulent practices in the country`s regional administration chief elections.

The Bawaslu official said it was true that the law did not require every citizen to use his or her voting right or, in other words, there was no ban on waiving one`s voting right. "But if there are people who call on others to abstain, that will be very regrettable," Cahyo said.

"We all should be able to put the general elections above personal interests because they are a process to determine who will lead the nation," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

Meanwhile, General Elections Commission (KPU) member I Gusti Putu Artha said KPU would not be influenced by the statements of individuals.

"We will continue to carry out our task in making people participate in the general elections," he said.

But the political parties, together with the KPU, bore the moral responsibility to encourage people to exercise their voting right in 2009, Artha said.

"After all, it is the political parties who are the main stakeholders in the general elections," he added. (dar)