T

he Papua General Elections Commission (KPUD) has approved the candidacies of six out of the nine Papua gubernatorial candidate pairs that have registered.

Four of the six pairs are nominated by political parties. They are Lukas Enembe-Klemen Tinal, Habel Melkias Suwae-Yop Kogoya, Alex Hesegem-Marthen Kayoi, and Manase Robert Kambu-Blasius Pakage. The two independent pairs are Welinton Wenda-Weynand Watori and Noakh Nawipa-Yohanes Woop.

The three candidacies that have not been approved are former Papua governor Barnabas Suebu and John Tabo, Yan Piet Yembisa-Hens Bonay and Karubaba-Willybrodus Magay.

The verification results of the gubernatorial hopefuls were announced by the Papua KPUD on Thursday at 11 p.m. local time.

The three candidate pairs failed the verification due to a lack of support. “The Barnabas-John pair received 7 percent support from political parties, Yan and Hens [1 percent] and independent pair Karubaba-Magay [less than 1 percent], so they did not meet the requirements,” said Papua KPUD head, Benny Sweni.

After announcing the names of candidates contesting the Papua gubernatorial election, slated for Jan. 29 next year, the Papua KPUD will carry out the next stage of the election process: Determining the eligible voters’ list on Dec. 14 and drawing up the candidate’s numerical order on Dec. 15.

The Papuan election was made possible after the replacement on Nov. 5 of former Papua interim governor Syamsul Arief Rivai, who held the position for 16 months, with Constant Karma, a high-ranking civil servant.

Benny said the Papua KPUD had made a great effort to determine the stages of the Papua election process. “Should there be parties who are dissatisfied with the verification results, they can take legal action,” he said.

Suebu and Tabo — who failed to pass the verification stage — said they would use legal means to contest the Papua KPUD decision, which they deemed unfair.

Suebu said most instances of where the legal procedure had been violated by the Papua KPUD were related to the plenary outcome on determining gubernatorial candidates, such as the Constitutional Court’s decision No. 3/SKLN-X/2012.

“For the sake of truth, justice and legal certainty, we will take legal action against the Papua KPUD to the authorized judicial institution,” Suebu said in Jayapura on Friday.

Earlier, Suebu-Tabo’s lawyer Steve Waramuri, said in a dialogue with Papua KPUD at a local television station in Jayapura, that the Papua KPUD need not verify candidates registering at the Papua legislature’s special committee, but directly approve the candidates as gubernatorial hopefuls.

Those who are verified should only register at the Papua KPUD, but of the nine pairs, only two have done so.

They were Suebu-Tabo and Yembise-Bonay. “So, it’s not right to say that there was support from two political parties; The support from those parties was regarded as invalid,” he said.

Ferry Kareth, from the Papua KPUD legal division, said if the Papua KPUD did not verify all the candidates, including those who registered at the KPUD and the Papua legislature’s special committee, and if there was support from two political parties, the Papua gubernatorial election result would be flawed and invalid, because the law stipulated that political parties could not act in this manner with regard to supporting the candidacies of regional leaders.