Poll body opens door for indie candidates

The Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta) opened on Wednesday the registration for independent candidates for the upcoming Jakarta gubernatorial election. The registration period lasts until Sunday.

Independent hopefuls are required to have garnered enough support from residents, proven by signatures and copies of identity cards, to be considered eligible to run for the city’s top posts.

Two pairs of independent candidates, retired Rear Marshal Prayitno Ramelan and businessman Teddy Suratmadji, and economist Faisal Basri and entrepreneur Biem Benjamin, had announced plans to register on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Another two pairs of new independent candidates showed up to register at the poll body registration office at the National Library Hall on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan in Central Jakarta on Wednesday, but were declined due to incomplete documents.

Ret. Commodore Mulyo Wibisono and former Home Ministry special staff Ngadisah, arrived at the office around noon only to be told to return with complete registration documents. The pair failed to bring support documents including names, signatures and ID copies of supporters.

Mulyo, however, said that he was optimistic that he could complete the required documents before Sunday. “It’s not going to be easy, but it’s a challenge,” he told reporters.

Later in the afternoon, the hopeful team of businessman Dedi Iriyanto and former North Jakarta mayor Atma Sanjaya also arrived but were denied registration.

“I was asked to compile the support documents according to regulation. I was also given a guide book,” Dedi said.

Election commission member Jamaludin said that supporting documents had to be compiled based on subdistricts and attached with three copies of each document.

“We have to refuse registrations that fail to conform to the guidelines and must ask the candidate to come back before the deadline,” Jamaludin said.

In order to officially register to join the election, independent candidates are required to gather the signatures and copies of ID cards from 4 percent of citizens, or 407,340 people in the city.

Previously, the Faisal–Biem camp announced they had collected signatures and copies of identity cards from more than 540,000 citizens across the capital. Prayitno–Teddy also claimed they had collected 500,000 signatures and ID copies.

On Monday, the poll-body will begin a two-week long verification process with officials deployed to check the signatures and the ID copies with their respective owners in 267 subdistricts.

Registration for candidates nominated by political parties will be opened between March 13 and 19.

However, most political parties on the City Council have yet to officially nominate their candidates.

Only the Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the second-largest in the Council with 18 seats, has announced its candidate: Triwisaksana, the party’s local branch advisory board chairman.

Selamat Nurdin, PKS Jakarta chairman, said on Wednesday the party was yet to announce Triwisaksana’s pair. “It will be a surprise,” Selamat said.

The Democratic Party, which holds 32 of 94 seats on the City Council, is still uncertain over who to endorse for the post, but has hinted it might back incumbent Governor Fauzi Bowo, who sits as a member of the party’s advisory council.

Survey results have placed Fauzi as the most popular candidate for the upcoming gubernatorial election. In the latest poll conducted by the Strategic Development and Policy Study Center (Puskaptis), the incumbent was popular among 51.52 percent of respondents.