Five pairs of candidates in Depok election
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Five pairs of candidates have been declared eligible to contest the mayoral election in Depok on June 26.
At least six pairs of candidates registered with the Depok General Elections Commission (KPUD), but one pair -- Gaduh Sunu Soemantri and running mate Agung Wicaksono -- was disqualified from the election for failing to secure the required support from political parties.
Candidate must be supported by a party or a coalition of parties that obtained at least 15 percent of the total votes cast in the 2004 legislative election.
Gaduh and Agung were nominated by several councillors from the Democratic Party, but as of Saturday had failed to secure the support of the party's provincial chapter and central executive board.
"The five candidates have met all of the requirements. We have checked all of the documents required for their candidacy," Depok KPUD member Abdul Kholik told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
He said the Depok KPUD determined the candidates election numbers on Saturday evening in a random drawing.
The pair of Abdul Wahab Abidin and Ilham Wijaya -- nominated by the Democratic Party -- will be listed first on the ballot, followed by Harun Yana and Farkhan A.R., who have been nominated by the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Crescent Star Party (PBB) and the Prosperous and United Development Party.
Third on the ballot will be Badrul Kamal and Syihabuddin Ahmad of the Golkar Party, followed by Yus Ruswandi and Soetati Dipowongso, who are the candidates of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the United Development Party (PPP) and the Prosperous Peace Party. Nur Mahmudi Ismail and Yuyun Wirasaputra, nominated by the Prosperous Justice Party, will be listed fifth on the ballot.
The Prosperous Justice Party won 13 of the 45 seats in the Depok Council in the 2004 legislative election, followed by the Golkar Party and the Democratic Party with eight councillors each. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and the National Mandate Party have five seats each, the United Development Party three seats, the National Awakening Party two seats and the Prosperous Peace Party one seat.
Kholik said there were 899,419 eligible voters for the mayoral election, which will be held at some 2,000 polling stations on June 26.
He said the KPUD would begin distributing photographs of the candidates throughout the municipality on Monday to introduce them to voters.
Kholik said campaigning would take place from June 9 to June 22, adding that the KPUD had not yet worked out a campaign schedule for the candidates.
"The Election Supervisory Committee must begin doing its job, monitoring the activities of the candidates to make sure that campaigning takes place according to existing laws," he said.
The Depok municipality has allocated Rp 10 billion (US$1.05 million) to organize the election. Kholik said there would be no funds from the state budget for the polls.
According to Kholik, the winners of the tenders to supply ballot papers, ballot boxes, ink and other election forms would be announced next week.
"We are now checking all tender participants to make sure that we select companies that are capable of providing the materials before the June 26 election," he said.
According to Law No. 32/2005 on regional administrations, to win an election candidates must receive at least 25 percent of the total votes cast. If no candidate reaches the 25 percent mark in the first round of voting, the two top vote-getters will move on to a second round of voting.