Govt goes ahead with regional elections

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.