FIFTY FOREIGN OFFICIALS EXPECTED TO OBSERVE POLL

Jakarta, July 4 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government has invited 50 senior government officials from 27 countries to take part in the Indonesia Election Visitor Program activities on July 6-9.

The program is scheduled to be opened by Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda and is implemented in cooperation with the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD), according to the foreign ministry on Friday.

The activities would include a workshop on "Indonesian Presidential Elections: An Assessment on Democracy."
During the workshop participants would discuss political reform and development in Indonesia, election regulations and local political dynamics in the country.

The speakers at the workshop include Rizal Sukma, Dewi Fortuna Anwar, Bachtiar Effendy, Denny Indrayana, Ramlan Surbakti, Saiful Mujani, Riza Primahendra (KID), I Ketut Putra Erawan (IPD) and Paul Rowland (IPD).

In cooperation with the Indonesian Community for Democracy (KID) the participants would also observe the implementation of the direct presidential elections in several polling centers in Tangerang, Yogyakarta, Malang, Denpasar, Makassar, and Banyuasin, Palembang.

The program is one of the actions to follow up recommendations from the Bali Democracy Forum held on December 10-11, 2008.

The Bali Democracy Forum has recommended popularizing and sharing of political development and modernization in Asia through experience exchange among countries in the region.

Indonesia is in a good position to share its experience with countries in the region and gets experience from other countries and the presidential elections on July 8 would provide the right opportunity for them.

The countries that would participate in the program include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Iraq, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Timor Leste, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.