Election work continues despite judicial review

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government's preparations for the country's first ever regional elections continues despite the ongoing judicial review process of Law No. 32/2004 on elections.

Minister of Home Affairs M. Ma'ruf said the judicial process at the Constitutional Court did not affect the preparations as around 60 percent of the works in each area had been covered.

"Of course we'll respect and abide by any legal rulings. But let me remind that these elections must be immediately executed because further delay will adversely affect the performance of the local governments," he said on Thursday.

The Constitutional Court's acceptance to the judicial review will cancel all preparations for the direct regional elections.

Ma'ruf said he had submitted the operational budget for the elections to the Ministry of Finance, amounting to Rp 929.56 billion (US$99.95 million), excluding the costs for dissemination of information on regional elections, technical assistance and evaluation.

"We expect the government to cover half of the costs from the State Budget, while the remainder will be paid by local budgets. But the decision is up to the finance minister," he said.

The fund from the State Budget will be allocated to each regency and municipality proportionally, depending on their respective financial capacities.

"Of course we will allocate more for areas that have limited local budgets or that have just been established recently," said Timbul Pujianto, the directorate general of finance in local administrations at the home ministry.

At least 181 regencies/cities are expected to have hold regional elections by June, while the rest 45 to have completed by December.

Law No. 32/2004 came into force in October last year. While the law was ostensibly enacted to nurture democracy in the country, many have warned of a possible backlash over its many confusing stipulations.

A number of non-government organizations and provincial offices of the General Elections Commission brought the law to the court, saying it contravenes the Constitution as it fails to ensure principles of fairness and impartiality during and after elections.

The plaintiffs also rejected questionable sections of the law concerning the resolution to administrative and election disputes, and crimes arising from poll proceedings.

The Constitution stipulates that disputes over results of the general elections at the national level are settled by the Constitutional Court, but it says nothing about elections for regional leaders.