A preliminary list of legislative candidates eligible to compete in next year's elections was published last Friday, sending many of the country's 38 registered parties into a frenzy of complaints and demands.
Some parties will call on the General Elections Commission (KPU) to extend the registration period so that their rejected aspirants can complete relevant documents to be included on the list.
The Greater Indonesian Movement (Gerindra) Party said it would submit new documents for its disqualified candidates to the KPU.
"We hope all our candidates pass the verification process. We are now collecting the required documents to be submitted to the KPU," Gerindra deputy chairman Fadli Zon told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
He said time had not run out because parties were allowed to submit relevant documentation to the KPU until the poll body had publicly published the permanent list of candidates.
On the temporary list, announced last Friday, the KPU disqualified 2,152 submitted candidates, including 60 belonging to Gerindra.
Gerinda chairman Prabowo Subianto, a former Army Special Forces commander, had registered 457 candidates to compete in the April 9, 2009, elections.
The KPU announced that 11,868 candidates had been verified, and is expected to announce the final list of legislative candidates from Oct. 13 to Oct. 30.
The Golkar party, which won the last election, said it would ask its disqualified cadres to submit their documents to the KPU "soon".
"We still need to discuss it in an internal party meeting," said Firman Soebagyo, a member of Golkar's team tasked with ensuring election victory.
Both Gerindra and Golkar said there had been delays in verifying candidates' University diplomas, which are required by the registration process. "It takes some time for the candidates to stamp their copies of diplomas," Firman said.
The Prosperous Peace Party (PDS), which saw 60 percent of its candidates rejected, said it would wait for further developments. "We haven't discussed the problem yet," PDS member Rustika Sianturi said.
However, KPU chairman Ansari Abdul Hafiz said his office had closed registration for all parties last Friday. "We have given the parties enough time to submit the required documents. There won't be any more room for registration."
He said the KPU was now waiting for public feedback on the temporary list.
"If we get complaints from the public that the diploma of a certain candidate is false, or that he is involved in a legal case, we will ask the respective party to drop the candidate from our list," he said. "But the party can replace him with another one."
Ansari apologized to the public for having not yet publicized the list. "We received complaints (from the public), including from presidential staff, as they couldn't access the names of the candidates on our web site," he said.
The KPU had begun to upload some of the names to its web site as of Monday evening. "We hope to complete the announcement, including via printed and television media this week," he said. – JP/Adianto P. Simamora