Jakarta – Calls were made Wednesday for two members of Indonesia's Election Commission (KPU) to stand down because of statements they made on small political parties.
Most of the 53 members of the commission walked out of a plenary session demanding Adnan Buyung Nasution, the KPU deputy chairman, and commission member Andi Malarangeng, be dismissed, witnesses said.
Both have said they want representatives of parties which gained less than two percent of the seats in parliament in the June 7 election to leave the commission.
"The meeting of the KPU has decided that the KPU will send a letter to the home affairs minister and to President B,J, Habibie to demand the dismissal of Buyung [Nasution] and Malarangeng from the KPU," commission chief Rudini said. Nasution and Malarangeng are government representatives on the commission.
Rudini said the statements by the two would have posed no problem if they been made in their private capacity. "The problem is that both talked in their capacity as a member and deputy chairman of the KPU," Rudini said.
The session reconvened without Nasution and Malarangeng to discus the problem, the witness said. "What has been said was all a personal opinion, even though I am a deputy chairman, not every statement that I make is made in the name of the KPU," Nasution said.
Rudini said commission regulations mention only that political parties which failed to reach more than two percent of the parliamentary seats in the election would not be able to take part in the next election.
The KPU was appointed by the president for a four year term. It comprises representatives of each of the 48 political parties which contested the June 7 polls and five government representatives.
The latest vote count has shown that only five of the 48 participating political parties have gained enough votes to allow them to get more than 10 seats, or two percent of the elected parliamentary seats.
[On June 25, the Indonesian Observer said that the Commission had revoked its earlier recommendation that the government sack Buyung and Mallarangeng saying "There were some mis-understandings at the meeting, finally both parties forgive each other, agreed to stop the problem handsomely in a family atmosphere - James Balowski.]