Bill bans independents from local ledership elections

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives and the government finished on Monday deliberating the bill amending the current autonomy legislation, with the final version of the new bill maintaining the ban on independents from freely contesting direct elections for chief executive posts at the local level.

A candidate must be nominated by a political party or a coalition of parties securing at least 15 percent of the seats in the local legislature, or at least 15 percent of the overall popular vote, the bill states.

It adds that individuals wishing to contest elections for the offices of governor, mayor or regent must comply with the internal selection process of a political party or group of parties.

"Political parties or groups of parties should provide opportunities for eligible individuals to run for office, and assess their qualifications transparently before nominating them," legislator Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa told a hearing of the House special committee deliberating the local government law amendment bill.

Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno and Minister of Finance Boediono attended the hearing, which was presided over by Agustin Teras Narang of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI- P).

The bill on the amendment of Law No. 22/1999 is slated for endorsement during a House plenary session on Sept. 29, one day before the House ends its five-year term.

The government had proposed that an individual gaining the support of 1 percent of the total number of eligible voters in the respective local government jurisdiction should be able to nominate themselves to run in elections for local offices.

But the proposal was rejected by most House factions, which insisted that all candidates must be nominated by political parties or groups of parties.

Without the support of the political parties in the local legislature, a local administration would not be able to work effectively, they claimed.

The bill stipulates that if none of the candidates win more than 50 percent of the vote, the candidate who has gained more than 25 percent of the vote and more votes than any of the other candidates would be declared the winner.

If two candidates have an equal share of the vote, the one whose support is better distributed than the other will be named the winner.

If none of them gain a 25 percent share of the vote, the two candidates with the biggest shares of the vote will have to face an election runoff.

Ministry of Home Affairs director of regional autonomy Oentarto S. Muwardi said his ministry had prepared government regulations on the procedures for the holding of local direct elections.

There will be around 150 elections for local chief executive posts next year, including those for the governors of Bengkulu and Jambi provinces, he added.

Oentarto said the bill authorizes the president to suspend a governor, mayor or regent who is named a suspect in a crime that carries a minimum penalty of five years in jail.

The home affairs minister can also suspend a mayor or regent in similar circumstances, he added.

Agun said the bill also barred foreign observers from monitoring local direct elections, while campaign donations from individuals and institutions must not exceed Rp 50 million and Rp 350 million respectively.

Key Articles in the bill

Article 233:

- Local direct elections will be held in June 2005 for chief executive posts falling vacant between 2004 and June 2005.

- Local elections will be held in December 2008 for chief executive posts falling vacant between January 2009 and July 2009.

Article 234:

- For a local chief executive whose term end before June 2005, an acting chief executive will be appointed to replace him until a new chief executive has been elected.

Source: The House Special Committee