Carter Center Congratulates Indonesia on Generally Peaceful Elections

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:  Jeremy Wagstaff– Jakarta, +62 857 184 73 184
Sophie Khan – Jakarta, +62 813 102 06 100
Deborah Hakes – Atlanta, +1-404-420-5124

Limited Election Observation Mission Preliminary Statement

The Carter Center congratulates the people, political parties, and National Election Commission (KPU) of Indonesia on the generally peaceful April 9, 2009, legislative elections, the third since the country's democratic transition from the New Order of former President Soeharto. This was the world's largest centrally administered single-day election, with more than 171 million names on the voter register and approximately 519,000 polling stations. Thirty-eight political parties contested nearly 19,000 seats in national, provincial, and district assemblies, while an additional six local parties competed for seats in Aceh province.

The Center has deployed a limited observation mission to Indonesia since early-March 2009. Six Carter Center observers monitored the pre-election period in various parts of Indonesia, including Aceh, and were joined by nine additional observers on election day. This observation effort continues the Center's commitment to Indonesia, which has included comprehensive observation of the national elections in 1999 and the entire election process in 2004.

The Center's ongoing observation efforts focus on the administration of the election and the efficacy of electoral dispute resolution mechanisms. We note that there have been significant changes to electoral rules and procedures since the 2004 national elections. These include the direct election of candidates from party lists, a new national threshold for representation in the national legislature, and changes in the role and powers of the KPU as well as in the process for conducting voter registration.

As the electoral process continues, The Carter Center encourages citizens, candidates, and parties to use existing legal channels for the filing of election-related complaints, as some have already begun to do. The timeline for challenges to electoral results is extremely short, which could impede their effective resolution.  The Center is pleased that the KPU is collecting and scanning copies of polling station results and encourages it to make these documents public as they become available to promote the integrity of the electoral process. 

The Carter Center will remain in Indonesia at least through the announcement of results and will release subsequent periodic reports detailing its findings on dispute resolution processes and other key issues. Because of the small size and limited scope of its presence, The Carter Center will not draw conclusions about the overall electoral process. The Carter Center will issue a final report on the limited observation mission to the April 9, 2009, legislative elections in Indonesia in the coming months. 

The Carter Center conducts election observation in accordance with the Declaration of Principles of International Election Observation and Code of Conduct for International Election Observation adopted at the United Nations in 2005.

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The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide. A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, the Center has helped to improve life for people in more than 70 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; improving mental health care; and teaching farmers to increase crop production. Visit: www.cartercenter.org to learn more about The Carter Center.

Read more about the Carter Center's work in Indonesia >>

March 25, 2009: Carter Center Launches Limited Election Observation Mission to Indonesia