Prodita Sabarini, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar
Com. Gen. Made Mangku Pastika's chances of running as the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) candidate for governor may have hit an administrative stumbling block.
The National Narcotics Agency Head and former Bali Police chief has failed to submit his school diplomas, a key administrative requirement for prospective PDI-P candidates.
""The verification team will work until Aug. 31. We will wait for Pastika to complete the requirements by that deadline,"" said Nyoman Partham, the secretary of the Bali chapter of the PDI-P.
The party's verification team works to check the authenticity of candidates' documents.
Pastika is trying to join the race to become the preferred governor candidate of the PDI-P, Bali's strongest party. The PDI-P won over 75 percent of the vote from Bali in the 2004 national legislative election.
Pastika said he had not submitted his elementary, secondary school and university diplomas because he had not yet found them.
The PDI-P's Legislative Board Secretary, I.B. Suryatmaja, said candidates who could not present all the administrative documents would be disqualified from endorsement as candidates.
Suryatmaja said Pastika should be disqualified in such a case to uphold the party's internal rules.
However, Partha added that the party would wait until the Aug. 31 deadline before deciding on Pastika's fate. He said that a meeting would be held after the deadline to choose the party's nominee.
Besides Pastika, other potential PDI-P candidates are academic Wayan Wita, member of the Regional Legislative Council Wayan Sudirta, PDI-P cadre and Jembrana Regent Gede Winasa, Denpasar mayor A.A. Puspayoga and the head of the PDI-P's Bali chapter AA Ngurah Oka Ratmadi.
Winasa and Puspayoga have remained in the race despite a ban from the PDI-P leadership in Jakarta on party members currently serving as mayors and regents running for the position. The decree is intended to ensure that elected regents and mayors focus on their own regions.
Partha said both Winasa and Puspayoga were in the running despite the ban, saying, ""there are exceptions for candidates approved by the party leaders"".
The province's first direct election will be held in July next year.
Six of the eight regencies in the province have already directly selected their leaders. The process was less than smooth in the latest election in Buleleng regency, which saw one village office set on fire.
The two remaining regencies, Gianyar and Klungkung, will hold their elections in January and October next year.
