Vote-buying charges delay swearing in of new regent for Banyumas

Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post, Purwokerto, Central Java

The Banyumas legislative council has delayed the swearing in of Setiono as winner of the recent regent election after allegations that he and his running mate Durori were involved in vote-buying.

Legislature chairman Tri Waluyo, who presided over the council's plenary session on Monday, asked the regent election committee to investigate the case.

"The plenary session is adjourned until Wednesday to hear the result of the election committee's investigation into the case," he said.

Setiono and Durori, who were nominated by Golkar, won 28 of 45 votes in the regent election held by the regency legislative council on March 19, while the favorites, Bambang and Musadad nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the National Awakening Party factions, won only 17 votes.

The inauguration of the pair was delayed after the legislature received a complaint from PDI Perjuangan's local chapter accusing the two of vote-buying.

According to PDI Perjuangan, the favorites should have won at least 25 votes in the election because the party has 17 seats in the legislature while PKB has only eight seats.

In its official complaint to the legislature, the party claimed that Achmad Sudirta and Supadi, two legislators of PDI Perjuangan, had received Rp 200 million from Setiono in return for their vote.

The complaint was based on the two legislators' revelation that they had accepted the bribe at a party meeting held after the regent election.

Supadi, a Golkar legislator, claimed that the night before the election, PDI Perjuangan faction chairman Manap Hadi had offered him a great amount of money to cast his vote for PDI Perjuangan's candidate Aris, but he turned down it.

Meanwhile, Manap denied that he had offered money to a Golkar legislator, saying he was ready to undergo police investigation to prove that he was not involved in vote-buying.

According to the 1999 law on regional autonomy, another election should be held to elect a new regent and a deputy regent if the winning pair is proven guilty of vote-buying. But the winning pair should be sworn in as the new regent and the deputy regent if it cannot be proved that they offered bribes in the election.

PDI Perjuangan, which won a simple majority in the 1999 general election, has been defeated in gubernatorial and regent elections despite its dominance in provincial and regency legislatures.