Poll commission delists 39 legislative candidates
Poll commission delists 39 legislative candidates
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A total of 39 candidates from various parties were struck of the
list of candidates standing for the City Council by the Jakarta
Provincial Elections Commission (KPUD) for various reasons.
The commission said that this meant they were now barred from
standing in the April 5 general election.
KPUD chairman Mohamad Taufik said on Monday that 22 of the 39
candidates had submitted fake school diplomas. He also said that
10 other candidates from various political parties had withdrawn
their candidacies.
Three candidates were delisted as they had only graduated from
junior high school while Law No. 12/2003 on general elections and
General Elections Commission (KPU) regulations stipulate that all
candidates must have graduated from senior high school.
Two candidates were under 21, while two others had submitted
fake certificates of good conduct from the district court.
"This number may increase as around 10 percent of the 1,578
candidates have not yet satisfied all the candidacy requirements.
Besides, 108 other candidates have yet to provide medical
certificates," he said.
The KPUD said it would give the candidates until midnight on
Monday to meet the requirements. Monday was the deadline for all
the candidates to complete their candidacy requirements.
As of 8:30 p.m., the KPUD office in Cempaka Putih, Central
Jakarta, was still crowded by candidates and party officials
struggling to meet the requirements before the deadline expired.
The KPUD will announce the candidates who have fulfilled all
the requirements on Tuesday.
Every legislative candidate is required to submit, among other
things, a school diploma, medical certificate, asset declaration,
letter from his party confirming his candidacy and letters
confirming his place of residence.
The law and the regulations stipulate that a candidate who
submits a fake document will be removed from the list of
legislative or council candidates. Meanwhile, the Elections
Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) has the authority to report
violations to the police.
The Jakarta committee, for example, has reported six
candidates to the police for such things as submitting fake
documents and premature campaigning.
Speaking about the 10 candidates who had withdrawn their
candidacies, Taufik said that they claimed they could not
continue as they were not ready to become councillors. Some of
them, he said, even had no time to complete the requirements.
"I don't believe their reasons. The candidates may be worried
they might face problems if they go ahead with their
candidacies," he said.
Taufik said the KPUD would still give a chance to the parties
to replace the delisted candidates with new ones before the lists
were approved on Jan. 27.