Banyumas poll body succumbs to pressure, allows PDI-P to run

Agus Maryono ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Purwokerto   |  Sat, 10/04/2008 8:10 AM  |  Headlines

The Banyumas poll body has announced amid intense pressure that it will allow local members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to run in next year’s legislative election.
“We can no longer bear the pressure from the party activists,” Indra Permana, a member of the Banyumas General Elections Commission (KPUD), told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

“After we announced the party was barred from the election, our office was surrounded by thousands of the party’s supporters.”

Indra said the KPUD made the decision to allow the PDI-P to run in the election based on the local situation. “Even the Central Java KPUD did not have any policy about whether to allow them to run or not. It’s our own decision.”

The Banyumas KPUD announced last Friday, based on a General Elections Commission (KPU) decision, that the regency chapter of the PDI-P was barred from the election because it had failed to verify its list of legislative candidates by the Sept. 19 deadline.

The following day, thousands of PDI-P supporters besieged the KPUD office in Purwokerto in Banyumas, Central Java, protesting against the KPU’s decision.

Indra said that as of Friday, the KPUD had still not received the verified list of candidates from the party.

Under existing regulations, all legislative candidates must submit required documents, such as character references, medical certificates and authenticated school diplomas, to be able to participate in the election.

If the KPUD finds during the verification process that a candidate’s documents are incomplete, it will request further verification from that candidate’s party.

The PDI-P was unable to complete the verification process because of internal party conflict. The conflict began when PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri dismissed the chairman of the Banyumas chapter, Suherman, two months after the Supreme Court sentenced him to four months in jail for using a forged junior high school diploma.

Megawati then appointed PDI-P Central Java chairman Murdoko as the acting chairman of the local Banyumas chapter. However, reported lack of cooperation between Murdoko and other local PDI-P executives left them unable to finalize the list of candidates in time.

PDI-P Banyumas deputy chairman Yoyok Sukoyo welcomed the Banyumas KPUD’s change of position.

“KPUD Banyumas has made the right decision. How could a big party like us be banned from the election?” Yoyok said to the Post on Friday.

He viewed the KPU’s original decision to prohibit the local chapter from participating in the election as controversial and the only one of its kind in the country.

“The decision was just about decreasing the credibility of Ibu Megawati, whom we want to nominate as presidential candidate in the election,” he said.

“We will continue to pursue the KPU if we are not allowed to contest the election.”

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