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Teman Ahok ready to hurdle barriers to incumbent's candidacy
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People fill in forms in support of Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama at a Teman Ahok post at Kuningan City Mall last week. Ahok is to run as an independent candidate in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election. (Tempo/Dhemas Reviyanto)
T
eman Ahok (Friends of Ahok), a group of volunteer supporters of Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, says it is anticipating possible stricter requirements for independent candidates to stand in next year's gubernatorial election.
"We are ready to face that eventuality. Our target is to get one million ID-backed signatures. For now, we are focusing on reaching that target," Teman Ahok spokesman Singgih Widiyastono told thejakartapost.com on Tuesday.
The House of Representatives plans to kick off deliberation of a revision to the Regional Elections Law in early April.
However, lawmakers from the House’s Commission II overseeing political issues, including those from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), have said they plan to propose tougher requirements for independent candidates in regional elections.
Among other measures, lawmakers have proposed increasing the number of ID -backed signatures required for independent candidates from between 6.5 and 7.5 percent of the respective electorate to between 10 and 20 percent.
If the proposed is agreed by the House, Teman Ahok will have to collect between 700,000 and one million photocopies of Jakarta voters’ IDs to allow the incumbent governor to take part in the election.
Ahok had declared he will run as an independent candidate alongside Heru Budi Hartono, a civil servant working for the Jakarta city administration.
Singgih said the declaration had helped Teman Ahok to collect more photocopies of IDs, as more voters had voluntarily handed over Teman Ahok’s volunteers. “Usually we can gather around 3,200 ID backed signatures per day. Now, with the nomination of the gubernatorial candidate, we can collect between 5,000 and 7,000 per day," Singgih said.
Separately, Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) chairman Sumarno said the lawmakers’ plan to propose tougher requirements would act as a barrier to people running on independent tickets.
"If the law requires 10 percent of the total voters, that means an independent candidate in Jakarta has to collect about 700,000 copies of voters IDs. That's a very large number," Sumarno told thejakartapost.com.
The number of eligible voters in Jakarta reaches more than 7 million. Under the current law, an independent candidate is required to collect some 530,000 copies of Jakarta voter IDs.
Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) senior political researcher Siti Zuhro criticized the lawmakers’ proposal, saying that it would spark public controversy. (bbn)
