Election delay requested in Aceh

Election delay requested in Aceh

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The provincial administration of Aceh and the legislative council
have proposed to the central government that regional elections
in the tsunami-hit province be delayed until October.

Ministry of Home Affairs' Director General for Regional
Autonomy Progo Nurdjaman said on Friday that the October time
frame was jointly proposed by acting Aceh governor Azwar
Abubakar, Aceh local council and the local office of the
Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP).

"I met all of Aceh's political figures when I went there
recently. They proposed to the central government holding the
regional elections across Aceh simultaneously on Oct. 25, from
the initial schedule of May this year," Progo said.

"We are currently preparing the (central government's)
response to the proposal," Progo said.

According to government data, at least 11 regencies and three
mayoralties in Aceh will elect new administration leaders this
year. An election to pick a new governor for the province should
also be held soon as the current governor, Abdulah Puteh, besides
being suspended due to his corruption conviction, will end this
term in November.

Eleven provinces and 215 regencies and mayoralties throughout
the country will hold elections for new governors, mayors and
regents in June.

But a number of regions and experts have called on the central
government to delay the June regional elections -- which will be
the first direct elections of regional leaders -- due to various
reasons, including budget and time constraints.

The government has also issued a regulation in lieu of law in
response to the Constitutional Court's annulment of several
articles of Law No. 32/2004 on regional administrations. The new
ruling allows for possible delays in regional elections in
regions experiencing security disturbances and natural disasters.

An analyst previously suggested that the central government
delay regional elections in Aceh for over five years, pending the
complete rehabilitation and reconstruction of the tsunami-hit
region.

Meanwhile, amid debate about servicemen participating in
regional elections, Indonesian Military (TNI) Headquarters will
officially announce early next week the names of members who have
been approved to run in elections.

"The TNI chief (Gen. Endriartono Sutarto) is processing the
list of servicemen who have requested to be allowed to run in
elections, and we will officially announce their names to the
public next Tuesday at the latest," TNI information officer Col.
A. Yani Basuki told The Jakarta Post.

Based on preliminary TNI data, several middle-ranking military
officers have requested Endriartono approve their participation
in regional elections.

One military contestant is the current TNI head of information
and data processing Col. DJ Nachrowi, who has requested that he
be made non-active from his structural job to enable him to run
in the regental election in Ogan Ilir regency in Palembang, South
Sumatra.

"I am awaiting approval from the TNI chief of whether or not I
can proceed with the regental election, which will take place on
June 25," Nachrowi told the Post.

Nachrowi is being backed by three major political parties:
Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI-P), Rachmawati Soekarnoputri's Pioneer Party and Gen. (ret)
Eddy Sudrajat's Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI).

"I will compete with three other candidates," Nachrowi said.