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KPU denies backroom deal on controversial rules for legislative elections
The election organizer is again in hot water over several provisions in its latest regulation, including those that activists say contradict existing rules on ex-graft convicts' participation and minimum female representation.
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Protesters call for greater representation of women in the national and regional legislatures during a rally in Jakarta on April 8, 2023. They demanded that the General Elections Commission (KPU) amend a provision in a KPU regulation that could lead to fewer female candidates than the minimum per district. ( Antara/Reno Esnir)
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The election organizer found itself embroiled in yet another controversy after critics last week accused it of secretly slipping the "problematic" provisions into a KPU regulation (PKPU), which regulates the registration and eligibility of candidates running in the 2024 national and regional legislative elections.
The KPU enacted the regulation in mid-April following a series of informal closed-door meetings with House of Representatives Commission II overseeing home affairs.
In a major turnaround from the previous policy, the new regulation allows political parties to sign up former corruption convicts as legislative candidates without requiring them to wait five years after their release from prison. It has also eliminated a mandatory requirement for candidates to report their wealth.
Responding to the allegations on Saturday, KPU chairman Hasyim Asy’ari said the draft regulation had been put through "public consultation" for feedback from lawmakers and the government before it was issued.
“In making the regulation, the KPU has carried out public examination and consultation with policymakers – lawmakers and the government – during House hearings,” Hasyim said.
He added that the commission had taken into account the arguments the Constitutional Court issued with its decisions in 2022 and 2023 pertaining to next year’s elections. The court decisions barred former graft convicts from running for legislative seats until five years after their release from prison. The Constitutional Court also held that the five-year grace period would only apply to graft convicts who were not stripped of their right to run for public office as part of their punishment.
