Commission announces members in new DPD
A. Junaidi, Jakarta
The General Elections Commission's (KPU) announcement of the new members of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) here on Monday was marred by a walkout from Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) members in protest.
The KPU had finished counting ballots for the DPD members elected in the April 5 poll and had determined the winners of the 128 seats in the new legislative body. Each province has four DPD representatives.
Panwaslu member Topo Santoso, who attended the plenary session at the Hotel Sahid Jaya in Central Jakarta, criticized the KPU for failing to invite all DPD candidates and witnesses. The body had not properly taken into account disagreements over the election results, he said.
"The session violated Law No. 12/2003 on the general election as the KPU did not give people the chance to protest the results of the DPD election," Topo, a legal expert, told the session.
Panwaslu deputy chief Saut Sirait joined the walkout.
He said several DPD candidate members, including the fifth- ranked candidate from Lampung, were denied entry to the meeting.
"We all decided to leave the meeting because it was like an official inauguration. The meeting was illegal and violated the spirit of democracy," Saut said.
Some elected DPD candidates attended the session, including former environment minister Sarwono Kusumaatmadja who represents Jakarta and sociologist La Ode Ida from Southeast Sulawesi.
Other former New Order officials, former cabinet minister Ginandjar Kartasasmita and former governors Raja Inal Siregar and Harun Al Rasyid, also won DPD seats.
KPU head Nazaruddin Syamsuddin said only the top four candidates from each province were invited because of financial constraints. However, he claimed the session was conducted according to procedure.
"The ballot counting should continue," Nazaruddin, a professor in politics from the University of Indonesia, said.
In his opening remarks, Nazaruddin briefed DPD candidates on their duty to explain to the public the reason for their existence.
DPD members have almost similar roles to United States senators.
Monday also saw the KPU fail to meet its deadline to complete manual vote counting for House of Representatives candidates. It gave political parties until 12 a.m. on Tuesday to file protests against the results.
As of Monday, ballot counting in the five electoral districts of South Sumatra, Riau Islands, South Nias, Sampang and Papua had not been finalized because of protests.
"Tomorrow is the last opportunity (for parties to register their opposition) before we announce the results on Wednesday," KPU deputy Ramlan Surbakti said.
Ramlan said dissatisfied parties could challenge the election results in the Constitutional Court.