Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The chance of female legislative candidates securing seats in next year's elections is likely to shrink further with the recent ruling by the Constitutional Court on seat distribution in the House of Representatives.
Last week, the court annulled Article 214 of the 2008 Law on Legislative Elections, which specified that parties could grant seats earned to candidates based on their positions on the parties' ballot; a regulation some feared would maintain the domination of party loyalists in legislatures, instead of reflecting the people's will.
The law affects women as most of them have limited financial capacities and get poor support from their parties, which affects their position on ballot papers and general favorability among party members.
Women's groups have slammed the decision, saying it means only candidates with the most support will secure seats and consequently plays down the chance of typically less experienced and less affluent female politicians to gain traction.
"I have this friend, a legislative candidate in a region who is a lecturer, a doctor, a real smart woman; but she has little financial capacity. The ruling will make it hard for her to win votes," Eva Kusuma Sundari, a female lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
"My other (female candidate) friends in regions have complained about this issue; they don't have money. A lawmaker like me may be better financially equipped, but still not as affluent as our male counterparts. It looks like we have to borrow if we want to get money for campaigning," Eva said, adding that she was very upset with the ruling.
She said the PDI-P had an affirmative policy toward its female politicians with its listing system for the distribution of legislative seats, in which female candidates topping the list would not have had to worry about having to struggle in an "unfair free market" system.
"Now we're waiting for the General Elections Commission's (KPU) interpretation of the ruling. People still have different understandings of its consequence," Eva said.
Sri Harini, a female member of the Golkar Party, said Golkar would not do anything about the ruling as it had adopted the majority vote system from the beginning, but added that it had an affirmative action policy in which seats would go to women over men if both secured an equal number of votes.
She added that the party had a women's unit, which provided non-lawmaker candidates with financial supports.
"I don't know the amounts; not much, I reckon. That's why we hope the KPU can issue a regulation obliging parties to really support their female legislative candidates financially, although this isn't likely to occur," she said.
Andi Yuliani Paris, a female lawmaker of the National Mandate Party (PAN), which also adopted the majority vote system before the recent ruling, said she could only hope voters would be smart enough to reject vote trading and consciously vote for capable female candidates in their areas.
She added it was very important that female candidates build strong networks among themselves and with their supporters to try and counter their financial weaknesses.
Ani W. Sutjipto, a political and women's rights expert from the University of Indonesia, said the KPU and parties had to combine affirmative policies with the majority vote system by, for instance, separating vote counting for male and female candidates and granting seats based on gender, one for one.
She also suggested that female legislative candidates maximize their door-to-door campaigning efforts, or meet face to face with potential constituents, as it would require less money than placing ads in the media.