KPUDs to take full charge of local elections: Legislators

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Legislators deliberating amendments to Law No. 22/1999 on local government agreed on Wednesday to designate Local Election Commissions (KPUDs) as the sole organizers of gubernatorial, regental and mayoral elections.

The lawmakers, however, have yet to reach agreement on the detailed electoral rules, including candidate nomination, types of permissible campaigning, campaign funding, and the days on which voting may take place.

In the draft submitted by the government, elections for governors, regents and mayors were to be jointly organized by the KPUDs and local council members.

But, "We have agreed that elections of governors, mayors and regents will be organized by the KPUDs," said Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa on Wednesday.

Agun is the deputy chairman of the House committee deliberating the amendment of Law No. 22/1999 on local government.

This latest agreement will reduce the possibility of interference by local council members, who are mostly politicians, in the local electoral process.

Committee member Chozin Chumaidy said the lawmakers had not yet reached agreement on whether independents could stand for election.

According to Chozin, most factions had argued that only political parties or coalitions of parties could nominate candidates.

A number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have demanded that independent candidates be allowed to stand.

They have expressed fears that the giving of a dominant role to the political parties would only encourage bribery and other abuses in elections of local government chief executives.

The House of Representatives and the government are currently discussing the amendment of the Local Government Law, which entered into effect in January 2001.

Various issues in the law are being reviewed, but the limited time available has made the question of the direct election of governors, mayors and regents the top priority.

Agun added that his fellow legislators and the Ministry of Home Affairs' regional autonomy director Oentarto S. Muwardi were rewriting the revisions that had already been made after discussing the issues involved at length.

The results of this process would be brought before another plenary meeting of the committee scheduled for Aug. 19.