M

embers of the House of Representatives praised the Constitutional Court (MK) for its ruling allowing regions with only a single ticket candidate to proceed with balloting in the Dec. 9 simultaneous elections.

House deputy speaker Fahri Hamzah of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) said that the court ruling protected the political rights of political candidates who went uncontested in local elections.

'€œLet'€™s just run with it, as there are currently no plans for a new law or a revision to the Regional Elections Law '€” this is the most practical way single tickets can gain legitimacy in their respective regions,'€ Fahri said at the House compound on Wednesday.

Fahri said that if a political candidate went uncontested, he or she must have had a good track record.

'€œThere is a consensus among political parties that some [uncontested] candidates are simply very strong, good candidates,'€ he said.

Fellow lawmakers, however, warned of possible complications arising from the ruling.

According to M. Lukman Edy, deputy chairman for House Commission II overseeing regional autonomy, the court'€™s decision brings renewed pressure on election organizers to speed up preparations in time for the simultaneous balloting in December this year.

The court ruling prompted election organizers in three regions, Blitar in East Java, Timor Tengah Utara in East Nusa Tenggara and Tasikmalaya in West Java, to stage elections in spite of only one candidate contesting the election.

'€œWill the three regions be prepared to host the regional elections with such tight time constraints?'€ Lukman said at the House complex on Wednesday.

Lukman said the General Elections Commission (KPU) should quickly draw up a new regulation to implement the court ruling.

'€œWe give the KPU a week to draft the new regulations. We [Commission II] will discuss it next week,'€ he said.

Meanwhile, the head of the PKS faction in the House, Jazuli Juwaini, warned that the new court ruling should not be used to promote foul play in local elections.

Jazuli urged all political parties to prevent political horse trading in regional elections, when they joined hands only to nominate one political ticket.

The court has also set up a new mechanism in electing regional heads in regions with single ticket ballots.

The court ruling stipulated the use of a kind of plebiscite or a referendum, by which voters either choose to elect in favor of or against the sole candidate.

According to the court ruling, such a mechanism would guarantee the political rights of voters to elect political candidates rather than postpone the balloting until the next election period and feasible candidates emerge.

Commenting on the reason behind the ruling, the court said that '€œit would be against the Constitution if a regional election was not held and postponed until the next [simultaneous] local elections due to the requirement of having at least two tickets contesting'€.

Meanwhile, KPU commissioner Ferry Rizkiyansyah told The Post that the election body would comply with requests to accommodate the court ruling on single-tickets and have the new KPU regulations (PKPU) ready within a week.

'€œWe are currently looking into [the ruling] and will attempt to enact several limited revisions in the existing regulations,'€ Ferry said on Wednesday.

Ferry said that existing KPU regulations on election stages, political campaigning, logistics and vote-counting did not accommodate elections with a single candidate running for office.
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