Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The General Elections Commission (KPU) remains divided over a highly contentious proposal for a quota of legislative seats for female candidates.

KPU chairman Abdul Hafiz Anshari said arguing a legal basis without a so-called "government regulation in-lieu-of-law" (perppu) was too weak to push through the proposal for female candidates.

KPU members Andi Nurpati and Endang Sulastri have insisted however that regardless of the regulation, a law should be implemented by the KPU to outline the distribution of seats forfemale legislative candidates,

"We decided on the appropriate action at a plenary meeting but still need to think through carefully. We do not want the government to issue a regulation as a legal umbrella," Abdul Hafiz told journalists in Jakarta on Friday. He said the Constitutional Court's ruling did not outline any real moves to grant more seats to women in legislative elections.

"The court only says the KPU could issue a regulation to determine seat distributions based on the number of votes won by candidates. There is no special award provided for female candidates," Abdul Hafiz said.

Both Andi and Endang said the court had earlier authorized the KPU to oblige parties to allocate one of every three seats won in each district to a female candidate.

The court last month scrapped Article 214 of the 2008 legislative elections law, which allowed parties to determine their representatives in legislative bodies based on the numerical order system of seat distributions.

The law further stipulated at least 30 percent of their legislative candidates had to be reserved for women. The Constitutional Court overruled this prior law, stating the candidate who wins the most votes secures a legislative seat.

The ruling sparked outcry from women's activists who claimed the ruling damaged their chances of winning a seat because of their lack of political exposure and poor financial support.

Abdul Hafiz said the KPU had finished drafting a regulation on the distribution of legislative seats. "We have to issue a ruling, but whether we consider action for women or not will depend on the government's potential regulation," he said.

Female legislators are demanding the government immediately issue a regulation to provide women with a fairer playing field to compete for seats in the House of Representatives.

"Without this government regulation, women do not stand a chance of being elected legislators, because the KPU does not have the authority to issue a regulation that offers any guarantees," lawmaker Nursyahbani Katjasungkana of the National Awakening Party (PKB) told a press conference Friday.

She said the issuance of a government regulation would not taint the image of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ahead of the upcoming elections.

"Issuing this regulation would not harm the interests of political parties or worsen the image of President Yudhoyono. Nor would it change the country's political landscape post-elections," she said.

Activists have long fought for a ruling to ensure a minimum 30 percent of legislative representatives are women.