Presidential election bill favors top political parties
Presidential election bill favors top political parties
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The administration of President Megawati Soekarnoputri continues
to overlook people's aspirations despite the fact that public
support is thinning very rapidly.
In the final draft of the presidential election bill, which
the government hopes to submit later this month, only
presidential and vice presidential candidates nominated by
political parties are allowed to contest the elections,
disregarding public pressure to allow independents to run for the
country's top posts.
Should the House of Representatives (DPR) endorse the bill,
which is very likely, hopes for instituting credible leaders in
the top posts will be completely wiped out as recent polls
suggest that current national leaders lack the credibility and
personal integrity necessary to run the country beyond 2004.
The draft, which Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno said
would be presented before President Megawati Soekarnoputri on
Monday, also lists several requirements for candidates, including
a clean track record without any prior convictions.
Nevertheless, the bill will likely fail to avoid government
intervention in selecting presidential and vice presidential
candidates as the draft proposes that candidates should undergo
administration screening conducted by the General Election
Commission (KPU), of which its secretary general comes from the
office of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Earlier, several non-governmental organizations (NGOs),
including the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro), voiced their
strong rejection of the proposal, saying that the presence of
government representatives in KPU would affect the institution's
independence.
The NGOs also proposed that independent candidates be allowed
to run in the 2004 general election so that credible public
figures, who are not associated with existing political parties,
could contest the presidential and vice presidential posts.
They also suggested that local political parties be allowed to
participate in elections so that candidates running for public
offices can be thoroughly scrutinized by their constituents.
Several polls conducted by a number of research institutes in
2002 showed that none of the current national leaders had the
necessary leadership skills or vision to lift the country out of
its prolonged multidimensional crises.
The latest draft of the presidential election bill also
proposes an alternative article for the nomination of
presidential candidates.
The first alternative stipulates that only the top five
political parties are allowed to name its candidates.
If this alternative article is accepted, the presidential
election will be held after the election of members of the House
of Representatives (DPR) and Regional Representatives Council
(DPD). The names of presidential candidates, however, can be made
public before the general election.
The second alternative simply states that political parties
and coalitions of parties may nominate candidates without
specifying a vote percentage. If the second alternative is
adopted, the election of president, vice president and
legislative members would be held simultaneously.
The Ministry of Home Affairs is scheduled to hold the fourth
presentation of the draft before the President and the Vice
President on Monday, along with another on the composition of the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the DPR, regional
legislative councils for provinces (DPRD) and the DPD.
Lawmakers endorsed the Political Party Law in November 2002,
while another bill on general elections is being deliberated by
the House and is expected to be endorsed in March, instead of at
the end of 2002.