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.