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KPU allows elected lawmakers to run in regional head elections
Petitioners that challenged the 2016 Regional Elections Law have criticized the KPU's decision, saying it violated a requirement from the Constitutional Court for legislators-elect to submit a statement that they would relinquish their new posts if they won in the regional head elections on Nov. 27.
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The logo of the General Elections Commission (KPU), mounted on a wall of the commission’s Jakarta headquarters, is seen on March 18, 2024.
(AFP/Yasuyoshi Chiba)
T
he General Elections Commission (KPU) is allowing newly elected lawmakers to contest the upcoming regional head elections without giving up their legislative posts, a gesture observers have slammed as unconstitutional.
The policy affects only new legislators who were elected in the 2024 general election on Feb. 14, and not incumbent legislators.
KPU chairman Hasyim Asy’ari said it was not necessary for legislators to relinquish their new posts to run in the November elections.
He added that the legislators-elect would not have been “sworn into office yet” by the time registration for regional head candidates opened in August, so it was unclear what position they would be resigning from.
The requirement to resign before running in the regional head race only applied to reelected legislators who have served since 2019, Hasyim asserted, citing the Constitutional Court’s earlier decision to reject a petition to review the 2016 Regional Elections Law.
The legal challenge sought to require lawmakers elected in February to resign from their positions to be eligible for running in the regional head elections. In their consideration, the justices required legislators-elect to submit a statement declaring their willingness to resign as a legislative member if they had been sworn in.
This means that legislators-elect who lose in the November elections can still be sworn in to their new legislative posts, although they will not be inaugurated at the same time as other lawmakers.
