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Indonesian poll body plans to bar adulterers from running in local elections
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Boxed up: A KPU commissioner holds up a cardboard ballot box at the KPU headquarters in Jakarta on Dec. 14, 2018. Switching from the planned plastic boxes to cardboard boxes cut the KPU’s procurement budget in half. However, it appears that the boxes can easily be damaged by water. (The Jakarta Post/Seto Wardhana)
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ndonesia’s General Elections Commission (KPU) is set to ban people with a track record of committing adultery, gambling, drinking as well as using and trading drugs from running as candidates in the regional elections next year.
The prohibition, which would apply to those joining the race for gubernatorial, mayoral and regental seats, is so far stipulated in Article 4 of the draft regulation of the KPU regulation regarding the requirements for candidacy in the 2020 regional race.
“[Candidates] should not have a track record of committing […] such indecency and/or other immoral acts,” KPU commissioner Evi Novida Ginting Manik said as quoted by kompas.com on Wednesday.
Previously, KPU Regulation No. 3/2017 regulating candidacy also stipulated prohibition for those with a track record of indecency from running for top posts in local and regional administrations. However, the regulation did not specify which actions were considered indecent.
Evi said the prohibition, also stipulated in Article 4 of the 2017 KPU regulation, was prone to being interpreted in various ways and thus the commission sought to define exactly what constituted indecency in the new regulation.
With the ban, candidates should therefore prove they have no track record of adultery, gambling, drinking and drugs by receiving police clearance letters to be eligible for competing in the race.
Nine provinces, 224 regencies and 37 cities across the country are set to hold regional elections next year, slated to take place simultaneously on Sept. 23, 2020.
During the regional elections last year, the KPU through its 2018 KPU regulation also banned political parties from nominating members who had been convicted of, among other things, corruption. However, it was later annulled by the Supreme Court in September last year after former graft convicts challenged the regulation at court. (afr)
