Keep an eye on candidates: KPUD

Andra Wisnu ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Wed, 10/08/2008 10:31 AM  |  Bali

Bali's General Elections Commission (KPUD) urged the public to keep an eye on its preliminary list of legislative candidates, after it found another candidate who appears to have broken election regulations.

The commission discovered Tuesday that I Wayan Darmawasa of the Labor Party of Struggle (Pakar Pangan) tried to run for legislative positions in two different councils: the Badung regency's legislative council and the Bali provincial legislative council.

"We still have to confirm this allegation with the relevant institutions at the regency level, as well as with the party Darmawasa is affiliated with," Bali KPUD chairman, Lanang Perbawa, told reporters at KPUD offices in Renon, Denpasar on Tuesday.

"If we find that this Darmawasa is really one and the same person, then he is automatically off the list," he said.

KPU General Election Regulation 18/2008 stipulates that a legislative candidate may apply for a position with only one legislative institution and must be nominated by a single party.

Should Darmawasa be found guilty, he will be the second legislative candidate to be taken off the preliminary list of eligible legislative candidates.

The KPUD has already omitted I Ketut Putri after finding he was nominated for a legislative seat in the Bali provincial legislative council by two different parties, the Patriot Party and the Indonesian Democracy Enforcer Party.

Perbawa said he regretted that these kinds of mistakes had managed to elude the KPU's filtering system and urged the public to help the commission watch out for unqualified or unscrupulous legislative candidates.

"We hope both the public and KPU officials continue checking for unqualified candidates and immediately inform us about any," he said.

He added that the high number of people vying for legislative seats in each region and the existing, fractional verification system might allow unqualified candidates to abuse the democratic process.

"We have to deal with a huge number of people here. Our results cannot be perfect and we need the public to inform us should this kind of thing occur again," he said.

Prior to the omissions, Bali's KPUD allowed 823 legislative candidates from 36 political parties to contest legislative seats, a reduction from the 1,004 candidates who originally applied.

The candidates will compete for the 55 seats available in the Bali provincial legislative council. The verification process for candidates in the regency level legislative council is the responsibility of the KPUD in each respective regency.

Perbawa said the public could view the preliminary legislative candidates' at the KPUD office as well as in the media. Reports of suspicious candidates should be made in writing and submitted to the nearest KPUD office.

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