T

he revision of the Regional Elections Law has reached deadlock with the government and the House of Representatives at loggerheads regarding the minimum requirements that should be applied for independent candidates.

Considering waves of independent candidates as a threat to partisan hopefuls in local elections, all factions of House Commission II overseeing home affairs have continued to demand that independents should gather an increased amount of support before being allowed to acquire tickets in a poll.

House Commission II has proposed increasing the requirement for independent candidates, forcing them to garner the support of 15 to 20 percent of the final voters list (DPT), from the current 6.5 to 10 percent, which is supported by the government.

Commission member Arteria Dahlan of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said on Sunday that they would keep the benchmark for independents if the government agreed to lower requirements for political parties to name a candidate.

He proposed that a political party or a coalition of political parties be able to name a candidate in a local election if it can gather 15 to 20 percent of seats at the respective local legislative council (DPRD), from the current 20 to 25 percent.

“Don’t accuse us of destroying democracy. I’m sure that if independents feel that they can gain the trust of the people, it won’t be difficult for them to garner 15 to 20 percent,” he said.

Having run the first concurrent regional elections in December, the government has initiated the revision into the Regional Elections Law to improve the running of the next batch of elections, currently scheduled for February next year.

The revisions include accommodation of the recent Constitutional Court rulings that changed the
basis of the minimum requirement for independent candidates from population numbers to the voters list.

The government has also proposed that any political party be penalized if it fails to name a candidate in a poll. This is to prevent the single ticket phenomenon that emerged in the December season.

The amendment deliberation, however, has been taken as an opportunity for lawmakers to lower the requirements for a party to name a candidate in an election.

The revision of the law has reached a stage where it is 50 percent complete and the commission targets to pass it through the upcoming plenary session on April 29.

However, the commission has predominantly held closed-door deliberations, raising concern from the public and civil society that drafting is influenced by certain political interests.

General Elections Commission (KPU) commissioner Hadar Nafis Gumay said he had recommended House Commission II not increase the requirement for independent candidates.

“On the other hand, they should lower the benchmark,” Hadar said.

Hadar said that the requirement should be between 3.6 to 5 percent, as stipulated in the previous elections law.

The House drew additional criticism from the public after one of the factions proposed that military and police personnel should not be required to quit from their posts prior to contesting elections.

Civil society concerns regarding elections argue that such initiatives as illogical, saying such an allowance contravenes laws on the Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police, which regulate that both are not allowed to involve themselves in political practices.

The commission has confirmed that the initiative to allow personnel of the nation’s security forces to run in elections without first quitting their position will not be passed.

“We won’t pass such an idea. People don’t need to worry about the potential abuse of power,” Arteria said.

PDI-P lawmaker Arif Wibowo said the law would stipulate that military and police personnel should leave their posts before they register so as to keep their neutrality.

“They have their own regulations, which are binding, with regard to what they can and cannot do. We have to follow the rules. Similar with them, civil servants and state-owned company employees should also resign from their post if they are named as candidates,” Arif said.
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