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Not many independents to run in elections
The nationwide simultaneous regional elections scheduled for December this year are unlikely to see much participation by independent candidates
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T
he nationwide simultaneous regional elections scheduled for December this year are unlikely to see much participation by independent candidates.
It has been confirmed there will be no independent mayor or deputy mayor candidates in Palu, Central Sulawesi, in the mayoral election slated for Dec. 9.
The confirmation came after registration for the race closed on Monday, the deadline for the candidacy registration. 'No independent candidates have submitted supporting documents for the 2015-2020 term election,' Palu election body (KPUD) chairman Marwan P. Angku said on Tuesday.
Marwan said the fact that no independent candidate would be in the race was due to the strict requirements for registration.
A candidate, he said, needed to be able to garner the endorsement of 30,000 voters by means of copies of the voters' respective ID cards. At the same time, a voter who previously granted support could also withdraw that support at any time.
'That's what might have been the consideration of independent candidates,' Marwan said, confirming that candidates in the upcoming Palu election would all be nominated by political parties.
Similarly in North Sumatra, of the 23 regencies/cities to hold elections on Dec. 9 most will do so without the participation of independent candidates.
In Medan, the provincial capital, as of Monday afternoon no independent candidates had registered to run in the mayoral election with the local KPUD.
KPUD Medan commissioner Pandapotan Tamba said that from the opening of registration for candidates on June 11 until the deadline on Monday, no independent candidate had submitted supporting documents to the election body.
'An independent candidate did come to this office today but only to submit a letter stating their inability to meet with the required number of supporters in the relatively short time period,' Pandapotan said on Monday afternoon.
Chairman of KPUD Binjai, Herry Dani, also told the same story. He said no independent candidates had registered for participation in the election, although a day before a candidate had said he would participate.
Darma Malem, one of the potential candidates to register for an independent candidacy in Binjai election, said that he had changed his mind after communicating with several political parties.
'Initially I wanted to register as an independent candidate. Furthermore I had collected the required support. However, after reconsidering, I decided that it would be better for me to register through a political party's nomination,' Darma told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Meanwhile in West Pasaman, West Sumatra, the Zulkenedi Said-Zainir pair who had previously been expected to register as independent candidates had not shown up at the local KPUD office for registration as of Monday afternoon.
'We were informed that the pair did not register because they failed to collect the support of 36,112 voters as required,' West Pasaman KPUD chairman Syafrinaldi said, confirming that no independent candidate would run in the upcoming election in the region.
However, independent candidates did register in the Solok, West Sumatra, regency election. Three pairs of candidates registered with the local KPUD just an hour before the registration officially closed on Monday at 4 p.m. local time.
The first pair of candidates to register was Zulherman-Syafri Datuk Siri Marajo who registered at 3:15 p.m., followed by Lukman-Adriwal at 3:30 p.m. and Wahidup-Mefrizal some fifteen minutes later.
Syofiardi Bachyul Jb in Padang contributed to this story.
