Govt recommends mixed electoral system

Govt recommends mixed electoral system

BANDUNG (JP): A combination of proportional representatives
and first-past-the-post systems for next year's general election
will likely reduce the influence of political parties and
strengthen the accountability of elected representatives.

This is the rationale behind a plan to introduce a mixed
system by a team of the Ministry of Home Affairs in drafting new
electoral laws.

Djohermansyah Djohan, a member of the drafting team, said
yesterday that with a plural district system, the role of party
leaders would be lessened since elected members would be directly
accountable to their constituents.

"Now seems to be the right time to limit the role of party
leaders to the minimum. Parties should only be facilitators,"
Djohan said on the second day of a three-day regional seminar on
Comparisons of Election Systems held by the Center for
Information and Development Studies.

"This system would strengthen the regions' role (in national
politics) because potential legislators would come from among
local people," he said.

A reduction in the role of party leaders would mean they could
not discriminately "discipline" their legislators, he added.

He recalled that legislators elected under the proportional
representative system were subservient to the wishes of their
party leaders and not to their constituents.

Legislators who did not toe the official party line were often
"recalled" by their party leaders. Legislators were also not
bound by the "domicile rule" as they did not actually have to
reside in the district where they were elected, he said.

All this is likely to change with the draft electoral laws that
are expected to be presented to the House of Representatives
soon.

Djohan said that while the proportional representation system
had its merits, people had become disillusioned with it because
past elections "had been filled by undemocratic practices to
ensure that Golkar gains an absolute majority".

He maintained that people in rural areas were familiar with a
plural system because it was already used in electing village
chiefs.

Based on the proposed system, Indonesia's House of
Representatives would comprise 550 members.

Of these, 210 would be elected from districts in Java and
Bali, and another 210 from outside the two islands. The Armed
Forces would be allocated 55 seats, down from its current number
of 75, while the remaining 75 would be allotted to include
representatives from losing parties based on a proportional
system.

The People's Consultative Assembly would have 700 seats -- the
550 DPR members; 81 representatives from the regions, with each
of the 27 provinces having three representatives; and 69 from
group representatives.

Electoral districts would be divided not merely based upon an
administrative district but also depending on how many its
population numbers.

Smaller districts, especially ones with few people, would be
considered as one voting district. But major urban areas like
Jakarta would most likely be allocated more seats.

"Jakarta will become one district comprising several
candidates. The allocation of seats for Jakarta and other big
cities will be determined by a proportional system," Djohan
explained.

On the proliferation of political parties -- 46 new ones have
registered with the Ministry of Home Affairs -- Djohan said his
team would propose that each party must have the support of at
least 5 percent of voters in a district.

This can be done through preliminary vote gathering in which
each candidate from a party would have to collect signatures
equivalent to 5 percent of the district he or she would be
competing in.

To ensure that elections are contested free of "money-
politics" or vote-buying, there would also be limitations on the
spending of each candidate.

The current amount currently being discussed is Rp 50 million
for a candidate. The candidate would be allowed to collect
donations of no more than Rp 1 million from each individual and a
total of Rp 50 million from corporations.

Spending of the money must be accounted for to the elections
monitoring committee. (mds)