Govt goes ahead with regional elections

Tony Hotland The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

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

Minister of Home Affairs M. Ma'ruf said the judicial process at the Constitutional Court did not affect the election preparations because they were already approximately 60 percent complete.

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

The Constitutional Court's acceptance of the judicial review will cancel all preparations for the direct elections of mayors, regents and governors.

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 of civic education, technical assistance and evaluation.

"We expect the government to cover half of the costs from the central government budget, while the remainder will come from local budgets. But the decision is up to the finance minister," he said.

Money from the central government budget will be distributed 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 for local administrations at the home ministry.

At least 181 regencies/cities are expected to hold regional elections by June, while 45 others will be done by December.

Law No. 32/2004 came into force in October 2004. 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-governmental organizations and provincial branches of the General Elections Commission have challenged the law in 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 of 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 shall be settled by the Constitutional Court, but it says nothing about how to solve disputes in local elections.