Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Women politicians have been dealt a serious blow ahead of next year's legislative elections, after the Constitutional Court ruled that candidates winning the most votes would secure seats in legislatures.
An eight-judge panel scrapped Article 214 of the legislative elections law that allowed leaders of political parties to handpick close supporters, rather than candidates winning the most votes, to represent the parties in national and local legislatures.
The decision, handed down Wednesday, was blasted by women's groups who said the move had "deflated women's struggle" in politics.
"The ruling did not thoroughly consider the history of the long process in the enactment of the law approved by the government and the House of Representatives, that the agreed electoral system is the limited open proportional system to accommodate affirmative action to increase the representation of women in politics," said a statement from the Women's Movement to Defend Pancasila Democracy.
This system, it added, highlighted "the principles of representation, proportionality and the protection of marginalized groups" – including women – and not the principles of free competitiveness.
"The Constitutional Court ruling is not fair to women because using the number of votes won as the basis for electing candidates will only make less room for women candidates to participate in the legislative elections, due to the strong patriarchal culture in Indonesian in general and political parties in particular," Indonesian Women's Coalition secretary-general Masruchah told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
The annulled Article 214, passed in March this year, stipulates legislative seats be distributed first to candidates securing at least 30 percent of the original vote. The rest of the seats are then handed out based on the list of permanent legislative candidates submitted by political parties.
Wednesday's verdict was issued in a split decision, with judge Maria Farida Indrati offering the dissenting opinion. She argued the government and law enforcers should defend women in their fight for a political quota as their constitutional right to gain equality in national development.
Earlier, four legislative candidates from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) filed a request for the Constitutional Court to review the article.
"Under the current conditions, I don't think such a mechanism can be implemented, especially when most decision makers in the parties are men. This will only leave women in subordinate positions," Masruchah said. She added Indonesia was not yet ready to fully implement gender equality, thus it needed to be regulated.
Airlangga University political expert Kacung Maridjan said the court's ruling would pose a tough challenge for women candidates in next year's elections. "With the revocation of the article, women will feel challenged to work harder in the elections," he was quoted by Antara news agency as saying.
He said the ruling would force candidates to boost their personal approach to the public to win more votes. "Women are supposed to no longer rely on the numerical system (for allocating seats), but they should use this opportunity to make a personal approach to voters," he said.