Plot thickens as factions prepare for election

Plot thickens as factions prepare for election

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The tension in gubernatorial election process was turned up
another notch on Thursday as the disappointed United Development
Party (PPP) faction, which has 12 of the 85 seats in the Council,
rejected a decree on the nomination of the gubernatorial and vice
gubernatorial candidates.

They refused to sign the decree to officially nominate the 14
pairs of gubernatorial and vice gubernatorial candidates
submitted by the council's 11 factions, as the PPP councillors
objected to the shifting of some candidates from a gubernatorial
position into a vice gubernatorial position.

PPP disagrees with the arbitrary nomination of City Secretary
and Golkar Party member Fauzi Bowo on the ticket as a vice-
gubernatorial candidate because he originally stated his
intention to run for governor. They also complained about the
nomination of Secretary general of PAN Abdillah Toha, who
similarly intended to run for governor but was nominated by PAN
as a vice gubernatorial candidate.

"We will not sign the decree," PPP faction Chairman Ridho
Kamaluddin said.

Also on Thursday, some 20 supporters from the Jakarta chapter
of the National Mandate Party (PAN), led by chairman Daniel
Abdullah Sani also demonstrated at the City Council building to
express a similar criticism.

The protests, however, will apparently not stop the electoral
process because the electoral rules do not ban the shifting of a
candidate for a gubernatorial position to a vice gubernatorial
position.

Fauzi has been paired with incumbent governor Sutiyoso by the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Golkar
Party and the Justice and Unity Party factions while Abdillah was
placed in the vice gubernatorial slot by PAN, as well as PDI
Perjuangan's second choice.

Some factions nominated more than one pair.

The rejection by the PPP faction to approve the decree on the
gubernatorial nomination was sparked by its disappointment that
Sutiyoso was not paired with Chudlary Syafi'i, the deputy
chairman of the City Council from PPP, by PDI Perjuangan.

A number of legislators from PPP have also threatened to
reject Sutiyoso's accountability speech. According to Ridho,
there was still a "fifty-fifty" split between councillors who
wanted to reject the speech and those who would accept it.

"We will make a decision about the accountability speech on
Sunday. We will still hold intensive meetings among leaders from
the PPP factions and the PPP Jakarta chapter," Ridho added.

All of the Council's factions will have their final say on
Sutiyoso's speech at a plenary season on Aug. 12.

If the accountability speech is rejected, Sutiyoso's political
career would more than likely be finished.

The loss of support from PPP, the third largest council
faction with 12 seats, could be a serious problem for Sutiyoso as
there would be Golkar -- comprising only 8 seats at the council
-- which would fully support a Sutiyoso-Fauzi ticket while to win
the race, the candidates will eventually need to garner more than
50 percent of the votes in the final stage between, most likely,
only two tickets. Of course, if a pair manages more than 50
percent in the first round of voting they will be declared the
winner.

Votes from PDI Perjuangan will most likely be split into those
who support Sutiyoso and those who support the Chairman of the
Party's Jakarta Chapter Tarmidi Suhardjo, who is another
candidate of the faction on the same ticket with Abdillah.

The Tarmidi-Abdillah ticket will likely receive a lot of
support from PAN with 13 seats and the Justice Party (PK) with
four seats.

Another potential gubernatorial candidate is the City Council
Chairman Edy Waluyo who was nominated as an alternate choice by
the PPP faction, the Crescent and Star Party (PBB) with two
seats, and the PK faction with four seats.

Edy, who is from the military-police faction, will very likely
to get some votes from his 9-member faction.

If the supporters of Edy and Tarmidi cooperate to block
Sutiyoso, the next governor could very well be one of them.