SPAIN PROVIDES RI WITH US$1.8 BLN FOR ELECTIONS

Jakarta, March 9 (ANTARA) - The Spanish government has provided Indonesia with 1.25 million euros or US$1.8 billion in order to support the implementation of a democratic election and the empowerment of the country's Regional Representatives Council (DPD).
The agreement for the assistance, which was provided through the United Nations' Development Programme, was signed here over the weekend with Spanish Ambassador to Indonesia Aurora Bernaldez Dicenta, UNDP Representative El Mustafa Benlamin and Minister for National Development Plan/Chairman of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) Paskah Suzetta.
Ambassador Aurora Bernaldez said that of the assistance, 750,000 euros would be provided for the organization of the general elections and 500,000 euros for the empowerment of the DPD.
According to Bambang Sutedjo of the Bappenas, the funds would be used to reinforce the institutional capacity of the General Elections Commission (KPU), the Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) and their offices in Jakarta and in other regions.
He said that the funds would also be used to finance efforts to promote extensive participation in elections by voters and to facilitate the government's coordination for international support for elections in the framework of achieving harmonized assistance based on the principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.
The 500 thousand euro will be provided for the Parliamentary Reform Initiative and DPD Empowerment-Support to the Indonesian House of Regional Representatives (PRIDE), a four-year program which provides a technical assistance for DPD in Indonesia. ***1***