One of our main activities is organising and hosting Luncheon Briefings on pertinent topics of EU-Asia relations. Beginning with an informal lunch, the Briefings usually last for 1.5 hours, including questions.

Attendees include EIAS members and other interested parties.

Experts wishing to discuss a possible topic for a Luncheon Briefing are invited to contact EIAS Director Dr Willem van der Geest.

2004 Elections in Indonesia
Thursday, 15 April 2004
European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS)
Rue des Deux Eglises 35, B-1000 Brussels
(Metro: Arts-Loi/Kunst-Wet)

Speaker: Mr. Glyn Ford MEP,
EU Chief Observer of the Election Observation Mission to Indonesia

The EU Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) in Indonesia followed an invitation from the National Election Commission of Indonesia (KPU) of 8 January 2004 in order to observe the General Elections (multi-level local and parliamentary elections) scheduled for 5 April 2004 and the Presidential Elections scheduled for 5 July 2004. The election administration body KPU (short for Komisi Pemilihan Umum) is Indonesia’s permanent and independent election commission.
Indonesia’s General Elections were held under a new legal framework with more than 140 million eligible voters.

The EU EOM is led by Chief Observer Mr. Glyn Ford MEP (UK) and the mission consists of a 13-person core team, 64 long-term observers (LTOs), 128 short-term observers (STOs) and 20 locally-recruited short-term observers (LSTOs) (diplomatic staff of the EU member states).
In total, 231 EU observers monitored Indonesia’s General Elections.

That, as Mr. Ford pointed out during his presentation at the European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS), made the EU’s election observer mission by far the largest international elections observer mission in Indonesia. The EU, Ford said, has deployed more election observers to Indonesia than all other international observer missions combined.

One part of the mission, Ford explained, was devoted to monitoring the media coverage of the elections. Amongst others, EU EOM election observers assessed whether political parties and their candidates gained fair and sufficient access to the media and whether it was possible for the public to obtain sufficient information on candidates and parties through the media.
Based on the EU’s election observation mission’s assessment, Mr. Ford concluded that this was the case adding that Indonesia’s media in its coverage on the elections did not favour any particular political party or candidates.     
All political parties, including Golkar, he added, appeared to have been able to campaign freely and without restrictions.

Mr. Ford pointed out that Indonesia’s General Elections distinguished themselves above all by their complexity, the vast number of ballot papers (600 million), political candidates (450.000) and polling stations (more than 560.000).
The General Elections, Ford maintained, were further complicated by the fact that voters were both asked to vote for a candidate and a party on the same ballot paper.
The ballot papers, Ford explained, became invalid if the elector voted for a party and a candidate from a different party. Ballot papers became also invalid if the voter voted for a candidate without voting for a party on the same ballot paper.
However, Ford said, more than 60% of the ballot papers turned out to be valid as of April 15.

Mr. Ford concluded that Indonesia’s multi-level General Elections that took place on a national, provincial, regency/city, subdistrict and village level were transparent and democratic. The EU’s observer mission monitored 1.244 polling stations (out of a total of 565.000) and did not detect irregularities with regards to the conduct and count of the poll.
However, Ford pointed out, Indonesia’s General Elections were subject to what he called “administrative shortcomings.” Electoral commissions e.g., Ford pointed out, were not always able to prepare and provide election materials in time and the counting of the ballot papers were too slow. These and other administrative shortcomings, Ford recommended, needed to be solved quickly in order to reduce the complexity of future elections in Indonesia. 

Furthermore, Ford pointed out, Indonesia’s General Elections were subject to restrictions to vote and to stand for office. Indonesia’s police and the armed forces e.g. were neither allowed to vote nor to present themselves as political candidates.  Mr. Ford recommended abolishing this impediment in the future to guarantee the universal right to vote and stand for office.

The General Election’s turnout, Mr. Ford informed the audience, was between 70 and 80% as of April 15. So far, roughly 65% of the votes had been counted, he added.
In order to secure transparency of the elections, the KPU publishes (and constantly updates) the results of the ballot counting of all polling stations, Mr. Ford said.  

Local NGOs and election observer groups, Ford reported, initially accused the EU’s election observation mission of being a “tool of EU business interests”. However, Mr. Ford pointed out, their final conclusions that the elections were free and fair did not differ from the assessment made by the EU’s election observation mission.

The mission, Mr. Ford said, had no interest in the outcome of the General Elections but was solely dispatched to monitor the election’s process. No EU election observers, Mr. Ford said, were dispatched to Aceh, Indonesia’s province subject to martial law.

Provisional vote count from the General Elections Commission (KPU) as of 9:00 p.m. on Friday April 19 was as follows: The Golkar Party 21.10%, The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) 19.49%, The National Awakening Party (PKB) 11.92%, The United Development Party (PPP) 8.33%, The Democratic Party (PD) 7.53%, The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS)7.17%, The National Mandate Party (PAN) 6.48%, The Crescent Star Party (PBB) 2.57%, The Reform Star Party (PBR) 2.30% ,The Concern for the Nation Functional Party (PKPB) 2.13%.

Mr. Ford will return to Indonesia in July to head the monitoring process of Indonesia’s presidential elections.

The lunch briefing was chaired by Mr. Dick Gupwell, Secretary-General of the European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS)

A detailed summary of the lunch briefing and a summary of the Q&A session will appear in the EurAsia Bulletin, published by the European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS).

More detailed information on the EU Election Observation Mission to Indonesia and the electoral framework can also be found at: www.id.eueom.org

Photo Gallery

Invitation Letter (pdf)

Glyn Ford MEP: a brief CV  (pdf)