T

he General Elections Commission (KPU) has expressed impartiality to the long-standing infighting within political parties, ensuring that the institution would not interfere with ongoing reconciliation efforts aimed to pave the way for fighting parties to join the upcoming local elections.

The KPU ensured that political parties, including the Golkar Party and the United Development Party (PPP), held full authority to take any measures to participate in the elections. But the KPU also affirmed that it would uphold the existing regulation and would thus only approve registration by parties that obtained recognition from the Law and Human Rights Ministry.

'€œWe exclude details of how parties obtain the government'€™s recognition from our job description. It'€™s not our responsibility. Ours is to screen registration documents of parties and to ensure the elections run well,'€ KPU commissioner Hadar Nafis Gumay told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

'€œTherefore, any party can join the elections as long as it submits a decree issued by the Law and Human Rights Ministry validating the leadership,'€ he emphasized.

KPU has been in the spotlight over its insistence to uphold a regulation on local elections, which, if not revised, will likely hamper Golkar as well as PPP from contesting the upcoming 269 elections to take place concurrently on Dec. 9 due to ongoing legal battles over internal party leadership.

In order for either Golkar or PPP to join the race, the KPU has required any of the competing factions within both parties to provide a final and binding court ruling on the party'€™s chairmanship, or seal a peace pact that will be officially approved by the Law and Human Rights Ministry.

The House of Representatives has thus proposed amendments to Law No. 8/2015 on local elections and Law No. 2/2011 on political parties, which will provide a legal basis for the KPU to add a proposal by the House in its regulation, which will allow Golkar and PPP to instead provide the latest court ruling on the leadership battle, should both parties fail to fulfill any of the existing requirements.

The House'€™s request has faced a stumbling block as the government as well as the ruling Great Indonesia Coalition declined to support it. The Democratic Party, which supports neither of the distinguishing political coalitions at the legislative institution formally, has recently officially opposed the plan as well.

The competing leadership camps within Golkar have engaged in ongoing reconciliation talks mediated by former Golkar chairman, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, in order to settle the deadlock following an exposed threat of being eliminated from participating in the elections.

Kalla arranged separate meetings with Aburizal Bakrie and Agung Laksono to discuss possible options that both camps could agree to, which so far led to a formation of a joint team, which will be comprised of equal amounts of representatives from both factions, to arrange for Golkar'€™s preparations for the elections.

'€œIt'€™s a limited reconciliation,'€ Agung said on the sidelines of a meeting at Golkar'€™s headquarters in Slipi, West Jakarta, on Sunday. '€œWe are considering settling the dispute temporarily and working together for the sake of the elections only.'€

Agung however quickly made sure that such a possible collaboration would not disrupt ongoing legal battles over the party'€™s chairmanship.

Agung'€™s remarks reiterated those of Aburizal, who said the legal battle between the two competing camps would continue.

'€œIt [the teamwork] is only temporary. It is meant to allow Golkar to join the local elections,'€ Aburizal said after a meeting with Kalla over the weekend.

The '€œtemporary'€ reconciliation plan however might lead to another standoff regarding whose signatures will be used on official documents submitted to the KPU for registering nominees.