Differences over election system delay bill approval

Differences over election system delay bill approval

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite the unanimous agreement among all factions of the House
of Representatives to adopt the open-list, or directly
proportional, system of general elections, major factions still
have their own version of the system based on their political
clout, and are thus delaying the House's approval of the
elections bill.

The adoption of the open-list system will allow voters to
choose individual legislative candidates to represent their
interests at the House.

The largest faction, the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), which won strong support in highly
populous regions like Java and Bali during the last general
elections, demanded that the open-list system be applied at the
provincial level.

Under this system, the party could ensure that it would still
collect a significant number of votes from outside Java.

Meanwhile, the Golkar Party, the second largest at the House,
wanted the system to be implemented at the regental and mayoral
levels, which would ensure the collection of more seats from
regencies outside Java.

In the last election, Golkar received strong support from
voters outside Java, particularly those in eastern Indonesian
regions.

Meanwhile, the United Development Party (PPP) and the National
Awakening Party (PKB), respectively the third and fourth largest
factions, preferred to implement the open-list system as
originally proposed by the government at the sub-provincial level
for Java and Bali and at the provincial level for all other
areas.

The different stances of the major parties have thus prolonged
deliberations on the long overdue bill, and the House has decided
to move their meeting from the House to Hotel Horison in Ancol,
North Jakarta, to continue deliberating.

They expect to complete their debate by the end of this week,
and to approve the election bill at a plenary meeting on Feb. 11,
instead of on Friday as scheduled.

PKB faction chairman Ali Masykur Musa said that the result of
debate at Horison would be brought for further deliberation by
the special committee from Monday to Friday next week.

Whatever the final result of the debate, political analysts
say it would still be a progress toward democracy, as Indonesian
citizens would no longer elect a party, but an individual
candidate.

Political analysts Kusnanto Anggoro of the Centre for
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Saldi Isra of the
Padang-based Andalas University in West Sumatra praised the
progress in the election bill debate.

Saldi cautioned, however, that the new electoral system would
weaken the power of the executive board of political parties to
determine the candidates for legislative bodies.

He believes the adoption of the open-list system could prevent
past bad practices, in which only those candidates close to party
leaders would have a legislative seat.

The new open-list system would also avoid problems of
misrepresentation, whereby a legislator would falsely represent a
regency not his own.

"The open-list system ensures true representation," Saldi
added.