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lthough the Democratic Party has officially announced its support for direct elections, the election for regional head (Pilkada) bill is still in danger of not being passed by the House of Representatives.

Deeming the position a reflection of its commitment to democracy and its consistent role as a counterbalance following the elections, the party has also stipulated a 10-point amendment to the bill, despite there being only seven days left for the House of Representatives to decide the fate of the bill.

'€œToday, the Democratic Party announce that we have decided to give our support to regional direct elections. However, 10 major improvements to the mechanism should be included in the bill,'€ said party executive chairman Syariefuddin Hasan during a press conference at the party'€™s headquarters in Jakarta on Thursday.

The 10 points include calls for cost efficiency, better management of political campaigns, funding accountability and a ban for all candidates on any involvement in vote buying or smear campaigns.

The Democratic Party is also demanding that the public be involved in the assessment of candidates'€™ integrity and track records, and that candidates prevent violence during the elections.

The party is also calling for an election dispute resolution mechanism and a ban from involving local officials in elections campaigns and from reshuffling them immediately after elections.

These demands, however, have failed to impress the public, according to a survey released by The Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) on the same day.

The survey showed that 83 percent of the respondents would blame Yudhoyono if he failed to prevent the Red-and-White Coalition'€™s ambition of taking the country back to 2005, when governors, regents and mayors were still chosen by members of Regional and Municipal Legislative Councils (DPRD).

LSI researcher Ardian Sopa said that despite the President'€™s public statement supporting direct elections, Yudhoyono is still blamed for not using his authority to stop deliberation of the bill.

'€œSo far the President has talked about his tendency to favor direct elections, but there has not been any serious action from him to protect the country'€™s democracy [by stopping the deliberation of the bill at the House],'€ Ardian said.

According to him, Yudhoyono still has the legal right to intervene.

'€œThe 2011 law on legislation states that a bill can be revoked before the deliberation process enters the second phase, which is a plenary meeting,'€ Ardian said.

The House is scheduled to hold the meeting on Sept. 25.

Ardian said that such a radical move was needed because the shift of stance by the Democratic Party did not necessarily ensure the Red-and-White Coalition'€™s plan would be thwarted.

Ardian said that even though the Democratic Party'€™s support meant that more than 51 percent of House factions were in favor of the bill, the Red-and-White Coalition could still win if the plenary meeting decided to settle the matter through voting.