Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – The House of Representatives on Tuesday is set to pass a bill allowing independent candidates to contest local elections for governor, mayor and regent.
However, the nomination of independent candidates could be complicated by the tough and "discriminatory" requirements contained in the bill on regional administrations, observers said Sunday.
So far, independent candidates are only allowed to take part in the local elections in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province.
The final draft of the bill was endorsed by the House's Commission II on political and home affairs last week.
It will come into effect after being signed into law by the President, or a month after being passed by the House, Commission II deputy chairman Sayuti Asyathri said Sunday.
Under the bill, independent candidates are allowed to contest regional elections if they can prove they have the support of between 3 and 6.5 percent of residents.
The bill says an independent gubernatorial candidate from a province with a population of between six and 12 million must collect a minimum support of 4 percent of the population, while those in provinces home to more than 12 million people have to get a minimum 3 percent support.
For mayoral and regency elections, independent candidates are required to show support of between 3 and 6.5 percent of residents in cities and regencies with populations of less than 250,000 to one million, respectively.
Candidates are required to demonstrate support by submitting signed petitions, along with copies of the identity cards of signatories.
Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) executive director Hadar Navis Gumay said the requirements for independent candidates were too stringent. "The required minimum support is illogical," he said.
Hadar said the minimum support ranges should be lowered to between 1 and 3 percent, taking into account that not all residents are eligible voters. "The support calculations should have been based on the number of voters in a region, not on the entire population," he said.
Hadar also pointed out what he called "inconsistent calculations" in determining the support independent candidates must obtain. He pointed out the bill requires a higher level of support for a less populated province and lower for a more populated one.
Hadar said the bill also discriminated again independent candidates because they were required to pay a fine of up to 20 billion (US$2.1 million) if they withdrew their nomination after it had been approved by the local election commission.
The bill exempts candidates from political parties from any fine if they withdraw their candidacies. "This will discourage independent candidates from taking part in elections," he said.
Under the bill, only political parties or a coalition of parties with a minimum of 15 percent of seats in the local legislative council, or 15 percent of accumulative votes in the previous regional election, are allowed to nominate candidates.
Law professor Romli Atmasasmita criticized a provision in the final draft law that only bans criminal convicts with legally binding verdicts or five-year jail terms from running for office.
This provision, he said, contained loopholes that could trigger future conflicts between candidates and local election bodies. It also allows criminal suspects or criminal convicts awaiting their appeals to contest elections, he said.
"What if they are found guilty after they have been named candidates or they win the election," said Romli, a professor at Padjajaran University in Bandung.
He said the bill should ban all criminal suspects facing a minimum of five years in prison from taking part in elections. "A five-year jail term is a sentence for a serious offense. All people involved in serious crime should be barred from nomination," he said. "Candidates should be people with clean track records."