West Java gubernatorial election result accepted
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Following a marathon three-day plenary meeting, the West Java provincial legislative council finally accepted the victory of Danny Setiawan and his running mate Nu'man Abdul Hakim in the recent gubernatorial election.
A majority of councillors attending the session agreed to certify the gubernatorial election's result after all parties presented their political stance on the election.
Antara news agency reported on Thursday that the plenary session which was scheduled for May 27, lasted until Thursday after the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) whose candidate was defeated, asked for an investigation into alleged vote buying during the election.
The party said the plenary session should also listen to the protest of the election by nine organizations and to respond to the eleven councillors who abstained during the election.
The Golkar Party, the United Development Party (PPP), military/police and coalition factions believed that there was not any bribery in the election and that therefore the election results were valid.
In the gubernatorial election held May 22, Setiawan and his running mate, nominated by Golkar and PPP factions, won 49 votes while Tayo Tarmadi and his running mate, nominated by PDI Perjuangan and the National Awakening party collected only 39 votes. Of the 100 members of the provincial legislature, eleven abstained and one walked out.
Tayo and his running mate lost after the PDI Perjuangan and PKB factions failed to win the support of the eleven member military/police faction.
Provincial legislature chairman Eka Santosa, who presided over the plenary session, said that the gubernatorial election results would be delivered to the President through Home Minister Hari Sabarno for approval.
"The President is expected to approve it and the minister is expected to set the date for the inauguration of the new governor and deputy governor," he said. He expected the new governor to be sworn in before June 8, the day outgoing governor R. Nuriana's tenure would end.
Setiawan and Nu'man will serve their terms of office June 2003 to June 2008.
The regional autonomy law allows the President to delay the elect-governor's inauguration if he and his running mate allegedly bribed any councillors or committed other crimes in the past.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri has suspended the installment of Alzier Tabrani as Lampung governor because he was allegedly involved in several corruption cases during his tenure as secretary to the provincial administration. He is being investigated by police in Jakarta.
The North Sumatra legislature has yet to endorse the result of the recent gubernatorial election because a group of students have questioned the authenticity of elect-deputy governor Rudolf Pardede's high school diploma.
The students have accused Rudolf of using a fake diploma to meet the eligibility requirements for the election. He was incumbent governor T. Rizal Nurdin's running mate during the election.