Minor parties can join local polls
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Small political parties will now be allowed to propose candidates to run in the upcoming direct elections of provincial governors, regents and mayors, according to a ruling issued by the Constitutional Court on Tuesday.
The court argued that the prevailing ruling (article 59 of Law No. 32/2004), which bans small political parties from actively participating in the country's first direct regional elections, was against the Constitution.
"The court opines that the request (to revise the prevailing ruling) is quite reasonable, so it must be granted," it said.
The court made the decision during the final hearing of a judicial review of several contentious articles of Local Government Law No. 32/2004 concerning regional elections. The review was filed by a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and more than a dozen leaders of small political parties in several regions.
With the new ruling, parties that do not have local council representatives can propose candidates for governors, mayors and regents by forming a coalition with other parties.
"A coalition of parties, which garnered 15 percent of votes between them in the (previous) legislative election, could propose candidates," Constitutional Court president Jimly Asshidiqie said.
"The ruling will allow more independent candidates to run in the regional elections," said Ferry Tinggogoy of the North Sulawesi provincial branch of the National Awakening Party (PKB).
Some 215 regions are expected to hold elections in June of this year to select their executive leaders. The polls will be the first direct regional elections here, and are seen as part of efforts to promote democracy in the world's largest predominantly Muslim country.
The hearing was marred by a power blackout, forcing the judges to present their rulings by candle light.
Not all are happy with the Constitutional Court's rulings. The NGOs, for instance, were disappointed with the court's decision to maintain the prevailing central government decree on regional elections.
The NGOs said that the decree undermines the fairness and independence of the electoral process as it retains the influence of the President over the fate of regional leaders, despite the fact that they would be directly elected by the people.
According to the decree, any move by local councillors to impeach poor performing regional leaders would require the approval of the President.
The plaintiffs had also demanded that the General Elections Commission (KPU) -- which orchestrated last year's presidential and legislative elections -- be given the authority to implement a national system for the elections of regional leaders.
However, the court retained the role of the provincial branch of the KPU (the KPUD) in carrying out the regional elections.
The court also ruled that the KPUD is responsible to the KPU, rather than the local legislative council (DPRD) as stipulated under the prevailing ruling.
Experts previously said that forcing the KPUDs to report to the DPRD would run counter to the principle of democracy as the DPRD consists of political parties that take part in the election contest.
Smita Notosusanto, an NGO activist and one of the plaintiffs, lambasted the ruling, describing the Constitutional Court's decision as "half-hearted" and favoring the central government.
A number of experts earlier called on the central government to delay the elections due to a number of problems, ranging from funding uncertainties to the limited time for the KPUDs to make the necessary preparations.