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fter being largely left out of handling disputes resulting from last year'€™s simultaneous regional elections, the Election Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu) has demanded that it be granted more authority to deal with electoral complaints.

Bawaslu chairman Muhammad said that the committee ought to have full authority to handle criminal violations in the election process.

Currently, Bawaslu receives complaints regarding violations of election laws, including criminal cases, only to report them to the National Police and Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO).

Most cases remain unresolved in the hands of the police because their investigations require at least two pieces of evidence, which takes a lengthy process to collect.

'€œBawaslu should be the only institution handling the reports. We should run a certain type of court to settle the all election disputes and violations except those related to election results, which are handled by the Constitutional Court,'€ Muhammad said.

Bawaslu should also be given full authority to handle administrative violations, issues related to candidate registration, campaign funds misuse and voter registration, he said.

It has become common practice for political candidates to file lawsuits against decisions taken by regional general elections commissions (KPUD) at the State Administrative Court (PTUN) after the KPUD rejects their candidacy for legal reasons.

'€œBawaslu should be the one to hear the complaints and its decision should be final and binding,'€ Muhammad said.

KPU commissioner Juri Ardiantoro dismissed the proposal saying that there was no specific regulation that barred candidates from filing complaints with institutions other than Bawaslu, such as the state administrative court, the police, the district court and the Supreme Court.

'€œOf course those institutions have no authority to reject the lawsuits. And that'€™s why we need to evaluate existing regulations,'€ Juri said.

Some of problems also arose due to a lack of coordination between the KPU and Bawaslu during the candidate registration process, he said.

The KPU sometimes declined to register candidates due to administrative violations, such as missing the deadline and failing to enclose school diplomas, a lapse that Bawaslu could tolerate.

People'€™s Synergy for Democracy in Indonesia (Sigma) director Said Salahuddin also objected to the proposal for Bawaslu to handle the criminal violations.

'€œBawaslu should stay away from criminal violations and be given greater authority to hand down heavier penalties for those failing to meet administrative requirements. This will make the work of election organizers more effective,'€ he said.

Said, however, doubted if the House of Representatives would allow the change to happen.

'€œThe House appears unprepared to deliberate regional election bills. They haven'€™t even prepared a draft bill,'€ he said.

The House has listed Amendment to Law No. 1/2005 on the election of governors, regents and mayors, among its priority bills under the 2016 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas), and started its deliberation earlier this month.