In a plenary meeting on Thursday, a report on the results of the Pilkada bill deliberation, read out by the chairman of House Commission II overseeing home affairs, Rambe Kamarulzaman, was met with interruptions from three factions — the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the Gerindra Party and the National Mandate Party (PAN).

Two main concerns plagued the deliberation of the draft Pilkada law, namely the minimum amount of support required for independent candidates and a mandatory resignation issue.

Rambe said all party factions had in fact demanded that legislators running for regional head positions not be required to resign. During the deliberations, however, only Gerindra and the PKS provided notes on the mandatory resignation article in the bill.

Commission II deputy chairman Al Muzzamil Yusuf said that during the deliberations, the PKS reiterated its stance, saying members of the House, Regional Representatives Council (DPD) and Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) should not have to resign from their jobs if they wanted to run as a regional head candidate. The party opposed the mandatory resignation, which is stipulated in Constitutional Court ruling No. 33/2015.

The Islamic-based party reiterated that any lawmakers intending to run in regional elections should simply file a leave of absence request, instead of resigning.

"If the idea of mandatory resignation is based on worries that they [legislators] will abuse their authority as state officials, regional leaders are more prone to abuses of power than House, DPD and DPRD members," Al Muzzamil said.

Meanwhile, the PAN faction highlighted during the meeting an exception for an article in the draft law detailing ex-convicts deemed eligible to run in regional elections.

PAN faction secretary Yandri Susanto said the draft bill stipulated the prohibition of drug and sex crime convicts running in regional elections.

Meanwhile, Gerindra highlighted the minimum percentage of votes a political party needed to obtain to endorse a regional leader candidate, which was reduced to between 15 and 20 percent, from 20 to 25 percent previously. The lower percentage will give greater opportunities for regional leaders to propose regional candidates.

Similar to the PKS' stance, Gerindra said state officials and legislators should only be required to submit a leave of absence request in order to run in regional elections.

The concerns contributed to the House's failure to endorse the revised law in its plenary meeting at the end of April. (ebf)

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