T

he government and the House of Representatives have agreed to split the authority to settle regional election disputes after the Supreme Court rejected the mandate, that is stipulated in the newly passed Regional Elections Law.

They have agreed to set up a special court to handle the dispute cases.

Pending an amendment on the mechanism in the law, the authority will be returned to the Constitutional Court (MK), which has settled such cases in the past few years.

'€œBefore the establishment of a special court to settle election disputes, the law allows disputes on election results to be resolved at the MK,'€ said Lukman Edy, deputy chairman of House Commission II on governance and regional autonomy, on Monday.

The government and the House have also agreed that disputes between regional head candidates and the General Elections Commission (KPU) will be settled at local administrative courts after investigation by election supervisory committees.

'€œThe court decision will be final and binding, unlike that regulated in the [Regional Elections] Law in which appeals are still possible to the Supreme Court,'€ said Lukman.

The law, which was passed in January, carried significant changes to the existing election mechanism for regional heads, including moving the dispute settlement authority from the Constitutional Court to the Supreme Court.

The settlement of regional election disputes was under the authority of the Constitutional Court for years before the emergence of a corruption case against former court chief Akil Mochtar, who was convicted in 2013 of accepting bribes to favor certain candidates in front of the court.

The amended version of the law had given the authority to the Supreme Court because of waning confidence in the Constitutional Court.

The Supreme Court, however, has rejected the authority, arguing that it is incapable of handling more legal cases.