Parties have no objections to KPU's candidate list
A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
All 24 political parties have approved the lists of their legislative candidates for the election to the House of Representatives, finally marking an end to the selection process, which began in December of last year.
There will be 7,756 candidates vying for 550 House seats in the general election, which is scheduled for April 5.
The General Election Commission (KPU) screened 8,841 candidates proposed by the parties on Dec. 29.
Leaders of the parties signed the lists at the Hotel Indonesia in Central Jakarta, with chairman of the Social Democratic Labor Party (PBSD) Muchtar Pakpahan arriving at the last minute.
Muchtar had threatened to boycott the signing after his name was excluded from the party's list of legislative candidates due to the absence of a copy of his identity card.
"We accept and sign the list in order to facilitate the election process. Some of our candidates have been declared ineligible, although we have met all the requirements. We are going to sue the KPU in court over this," Muchtar said.
A KPU lawyer, Deni Kailimang, said the commission was ready to face any lawsuits filed by parties that were disappointed with the lists.
"In so far as the KPU makes its decisions based on the law, we are ready to face any lawsuits. Let's meet in the courtroom," Deni told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting.
Besides Deni, the KPU has also appointed noted lawyer Amir Syamsuddin to represent the commission should any legal problems arise.
One parties, the National Awakening Party (PKB), which lost 100 candidates from its original list of 543 candidates, said it would accept the KPU's decisions.
"Most of the candidates were reluctant to meet the requirements as they were in the lower part of the list and would not be elected in the election," PKB chairman Alwi Shihab told reporters.
Alwi said the candidates refused to such requirements as furnishing medical certificates and certificates of good conduct from the court as they knew they had no hope of being elected.
Meanwhile, almost all prominent party figures were declared eligible to run in the election, including Alwi, National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Amien Rais, and National Bull Independence Party (PNBK) chairman Eros Djarot.
"Those who failed are people from the regions. Candidates from the party's central board passed the selection," PAN's general secretary Hatta Radjasa, who is also minister for research and technology, told reporters.
In a related development, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) deputy secretary Pramono Anung admitted that there was an internal conflict among the executives of the party's East Kalimantan chapter.
"We will fix it," Pramono told reporters.
The KPU's East Kalimantan branch announced on Wednesday that the party was barred from participating in the election as two different lists of candidates for the province's legislative council had been submitted to the commission.
Meanwhile, Election Supervisory Committee member Santoso supported the KPU East Kalimantan branch's decision to exclude the PDI-P.
"It's correct. They've followed the procedures," Santoso told reporters.