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esearchers from the University of Indonesia'€™s (UI) Center for Political Studies found in a recent survey that women would be less represented among the next batch of lawmakers.

The center'€™s data showed that women may only achieve 14 percent of the total number of seats in the House of Representatives after the latest legislative election, compared to the 18 percent achieved in the 2009 election.

The think tank attributed the decline to internal party policies that push women to secure greater representation in the House.

'€œThis really shows the need to evaluate political party policies in their efforts to have more women candidates win legislative seats,'€ the center'€™s director, Sri Budi Eko Wardani, said.

Even though more women participated in this year'€™s legislative election, with 2,467 of the total 6,619 candidates (or 37 percent) contesting the 560 House seats, only around 80 women candidates are expected to secure seats.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) has yet to release the official results after converting the number of votes into seats, following its announcement of official tallies on May 9.

One of the defeated candidates in the race, incumbent Golkar Party lawmaker Nurul Arifin, said conditions on the ground meant that sometimes, the best women candidates did not always join the race.

Nurul said there were three incumbents out of Golkar'€™s 16 women candidates who won in the 2014 legislative election, adding that 39 percent of those women were wives of politicians '€” primarily regents and governors.

'€œVictory in the election is a combination of local power and capital,'€ Nurul said.

She added that she and two other incumbents in her electoral district of West Java VIII (Bekasi, Karawang and Purwakarta regencies), were beaten by a former mayor and two Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) members, who have a major influence in those areas.

'€œWe thought the electoral system of winning the most votes would reduce the oligarchic structure in political parties. But in fact, political dynasties have grown stronger,'€ she said.

A successful candidate, incumbent Democratic Party lawmaker Melani Leimena Suharli, said that even though the Democratic Party had experienced a slump in the number of votes it won, the party still came in fourth, with 13 women candidates winning in the election.

Melani, who represents DKI Jakarta II (South Jakarta, Central Jakarta and Overseas), said the party had an internal policy of placing women at each level of leadership.

She added that each political party had to sort out its leadership structures, including those of wing organizations, and place more women in key positions.

'€œHowever, the best internal policy would be to place women at the top of the legislative list,'€ Melani said. (put)