W

ith only a small number of political candidates having registered themselves with the General Election Commission (KPU) to stand for the Dec. 9 regional elections, many expect that some regions could see a delay in the scheduling of the ballot.

The KPU had registered only 63 pairs of candidates when the registration window closed on Sunday, while 38 more pairs had turned up by 3 p.m. Monday. The KPU has been expecting at least 538 pairs of candidates to register across nine provinces and 260 cities and regencies.

Of the 63 tickets registered so far, 26 are independent. Also, of the 63, two pairs are registered for gubernatorial elections, in Bengkulu and South Kalimantan, while the rest are running in 11 cities and 38 regencies.

'€œThis is of course less than what we expected. We really hope there will be more to come as we don'€™t want to delay the elections,'€ KPU commissioner Hadar Nafis Gumay said on Monday.

Under KPU Regulation No. 12/2015, local General Elections Commissions (KPUD) can extend their registration period if they have fewer than two tickets running.

'€œIf there are not enough candidates in a region, we can run another round of registrations between Aug. 1 and Aug. 3. If there are still not enough candidates we have no option but to delay that regions election until in Feb. 2017,'€ Hadar told reporters.

In cases where regions do not have enough candidates as a result of some hopefuls not having passed the selection process, the KPUD will hold another three-day registration 10 days after an announcement is made.

Responding to the call that the KPU should still press ahead with the ballots with only a single ticket contesting some regional elections, Hadar said that the local election bodies could make that decision alone.

'€œIt'€™s the House of Representatives'€™s or the President'€™s authority to make more systemic change. To determine who would win the election requires a major change [in regulations],'€ he said.

Many have expected that many regions would see only one ticket standing for election, given the more stringent requirements for candidates.

Based on KPU regulations, politicians need to be nominated by a party, or a coalition of parties, that controls at least 20 percent of seats in the regional council or 25 percent of valid votes in the 2014 regional election.

In the last regional elections the threshold was between 15 and 20 percent, Hadar said.

Political candidates must also get approval from the central board of their political party, whereas last election needed only the regional board'€™s approval.

'€œThe requirements for independent nominees are also harder as they have to get approval from 3 percent more people than they did under the previous regulation,'€ the commissioner said.

Under KPU regulation No. 9/2015, individuals can nominate themselves for this election only with the support of 6 to 10 percent of the region'€™s population.

At least 254 pairs of independent candidates had submitted the names of their supporters in June. However, only 174 were deemed eligible.

'€œNot all of the 174 will register either because of stringent requirements. [Some] need to prove that they have won more support. So for example, if they need 10,000 people but we can only validate 7,000, they have to submit another 3,000 supporters,'€ another KPU commissioner, Sigit Pamungkas, said.

Sigit told The Jakarta Post that the KPU has distributed letters on Saturday to make the political parties and independent candidates aware of the Aug. 1 to Aug. 3 extra registration window. (rbk)