Australia Supports Indonesian Elections

An Australian observer delegation will travel to Indonesia for the Presidential election on 5 July, as part of Australia's ongoing commitment to Indonesia's democratic and electoral processes.

This will be the first time the people of Indonesia will go to the polls to directly elect their President and Vice-President. It follows Indonesia's successful Parliamentary elections held on 5 April.

Australia has committed $15 million to support the Indonesian government in running its parliamentary and presidential elections in 2004. This includes almost $3 million in assistance through the Australian Electoral Commission to train Indonesian Electoral Commission staff and $8 million to the UNDP Electoral Support Program for training on elections management and voter education.

The Australian observer delegation will support the efforts of domestic election monitors and will work alongside other overseas observers, including from the EU, US and Japan. As with the Parliamentary elections, the Indonesian people will be the final judges of the acceptability and fairness of the election process.

The delegation will be led by the Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Chris Gallus, and includes ALP Senator Ruth Webber and nine officials supported by our Embassy in Jakarta. The observers will deploy to polling stations and counting centres across the archipelago in Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Bali and West Timor.

Media inquiries: Chris Kenny (Ministerial) 02 6277 7500 - Julie McDonald (Departmental) 02 6261 1555