Election laws need revision: Group

Elections laws have focused more on issues of representation, rather than how elected officials can perform their duties best after elected, a Partnership for Governance Reform (Kemitraan) statement says.

According to the Wednesday statement, the law’s vagueries have spurred officials to involve themselves in corruption.

“One of the weaknesses of presidentialism is a divided government – when the president fails to gain support from the House of Representatives, or when the president comes from one party but the House is dominated by another,” the statement said.

This creates an ineffective government because the House of Representatives will usually reject the president’s policies, or transactional politics will emerge in order to make agreements.

One way to improve the system is to time the elections better, the statement said.

Instead of having scattered elections of regional representatives, elections for regional leaders and members of regional legislative councils should be held at the same time, and be termed regional elections.

The elections of House members and the Regional Representatives Council should be held at the same time as the presidential election, and be termed national elections, the statement said.

There should be a period of two to three years between the regional and national elections. With this method, a five-year political agenda could be predicted and would not disrupt socio-culture and economic agendas.

Kemitraan member Hasyim Asy’ari said the mechanism would make it easier for voters to identify which elected party is not doing its job properly.

“The public can punish them by not re-electing that party,” he said.