The Jakarta Post
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsElection panel delay sparks interference fears
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
An election official moves a ballot box on Feb. 28, 2020, from the Ciamis Regional Elections (Pilkada) logistics warehouse in Ciamis regency, West Java. (Antara/Adeng Bustomi)
A
push to delay the selection of new election commissioners is gaining traction among pro-government parties in the House of Representatives, raising concerns over potential political interference as lawmakers also propose expanding the bodies responsible for organizing and overseeing elections.
The push came as President Prabowo Subianto missed the Oct. 12 deadline to establish a selection committee tasked with vetting new commissioners for the General Elections Commission (KPU) and Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu). The delay has left the appointment process in limbo, with the current commissioners’ terms set to expire on April 11 next year.
Muhammad Khozin, a lawmaker from the pro-government National Awakening Party (PKB), said his party believed the formation of the selection committee should ideally wait until lawmakers had passed revisions to the General Elections Law, which would provide the legal basis for the selection process.
“Moreover, there have been proposals to increase the number of KPU and Bawaslu commissioners. Therefore, ideally, the selection process should begin after the new elections law is passed,” he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Although included in this year's priority legislative agenda, revisions to the General Elections Law have faced repeated delays. Formal deliberations have yet to begin, with lawmakers now targeting March next year to pass the bill.
Read also: Delayed election law revision sparks fear of tighter presidential nominations
Khozin's position echoes that of the chairman of House Commission II overseeing home affairs, Muhammad Rifqinizamy Karsayuda, also a lawmaker from the pro-government NasDem Party. He described postponing the committee's formation until the revised law is passed as the "safest" approach.
