Irawaty Wardany and Hans David Tampubolon, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 12/05/2009 1:24 PM
Two hundred and forty-six regional elections slated for next year, many of them carried over from this year, have been given the go-ahead by Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi.
"We've agreed with the KPU *General Elections Commission* and the Bawaslu *Elections Supervisory Board* to hold the 246 local elections in 2010," Gamawan said Friday as quoted by kompas.com.
The local elections, including for governor in several provinces, include more than 100 that should have been held this year but were postponed because of the general elections in April and the presidential election in July.
Security and efficiency issues have been given as the main reasons for most of the postponements.
Legislators have also called on the government to extend the local elections delay, citing weakened political stability and economic recovery in the wake of domestic political and legal problems and the global economic downturn.
Gamawan said it would be difficult to keep delaying the polls because that would require the government and the House of Representatives reviewing the 2004 Regional Administration Law.
The law calls for elections for regional heads every five years.
Gamawan said any move to delay a poll could leave a regional head in power for six years or longer, thus violating the law.
He added the government planned to hold the 246 local elections simultaneously some time in 2010 to keep costs down.
"To delay *the regional elections*, we need to review the 2004 law, and that will take time, while the first scheduled polls for regional heads begin in February," Gamawan said.
He added his ministry had finalized a draft decree on local election budgets, so money should not be a reason to call for a delay.
"I'll sign the decree this week. It regulates the budget allocation to be used to finance the local elections," Gamawan said.
He declined to say how much the Home Ministry had budgeted for each of the 246 local elections.
Ida Fauziah, a member of House Commission II, which oversees regional administration, said legislators on the commission had not yet determined how to approach the issue of the pending elections.
"If we call for a further delay, we have to base it on a proper legal footing," she told The Jakarta Post.
She added such a regulation had to stipulate for how long a suspension could be extended.
"We hope that during the delay period, local polling bodies and the Bawaslu can make the necessary preparations," she said.
Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) executive director Hadar N. Gumay called on the government to extend the delay because there were many regulations at the regional and central levels that contradicted each other.
"The government needs to synchronize conflicting regulations to avoid unnecessary disputes arising from these local elections," he said.
