Only candidates may protest election results

Only candidates may protest election results

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Only presidential candidates and their running mates, not
political parties, will be allowed to submit objections to the
Constitutional Court should they find any fraud in the final
results of presidential elections, according to the special
committee currently deliberating the presidential election bill.

The complaint must be submitted within three days of the
announcement by the General Elections Commission of the results
of the presidential election to avoid any prolonged unproductive
disputes that may disturb the state administration.

"It is only the presidential candidates and their running
mates that can submit complaints. If all people and parties are
allowed to do so, it will create many more problems," Chozin
Chumaidy, deputy chairman of the special committee, said here on
Monday.

Chozin, also a legislator of the United Development Party
(PPP), said that all nine factions in the special committee had
agreed to the stipulation.

Yet, several factions were divided over the time period for
presidential candidates to submit any objections or complaints.

"We are still discussing that," he added.

Besides, KPU should listen to complaints submitted by
independent organizations before it announces the presidential
election results.

Firman Jaya Daeli of the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Hafiz Zawawi of Golkar, and Patrialis
Akbar of the Reform faction concurred, saying KPU was supposed to
validate the final election's result before announcing it to the
public and that only major cases were expected to be brought to
court.

Chozin said that only the court had the authority to decide
whether to process the complaints or not.

The stipulation won support from all factions.

The bill drafted by the home ministry did not specifically any
regulations on that matter but only stated that the KPU must
validate the election result before it is approved by the
President.

Hafiz Zawawi meanwhile emphasized that the election results
could be brought to the Constitutional Court only if the there
were nationwide objections.

"All disputes at a regional level will be settled by the local
chapter of the KPU and the Election Supervisory Committee," Hafiz
added.

With such a problem-solving mechanism at the regional level,
there will no major disputes nor a total rejection of the
presidential election results at the national level, he said.

The bill is expected to be endorsed by the House by the end of
this month.