Jakarta – A group of unelected legislative candidates say the General Elections Commission (KPU) must quickly implement a ruling issued by the Supreme Court, which would give candidates seats at the House of Representatives.

"KPU chairman Abdul Hafiz Anshary, in his capacity as a cleric, will understand the calculation currently being used by the commission is against the law and not righteous," a legislative candidate from the Democratic Party, Zaenal Ma'arif, said on behalf of the group calling itself the "Coalition of Constitution and Justice" at Hotel Sahid Jaya in Sudirman, Central Jakarta, on Sunday.

"Therefore, the KPU should implement the Supreme Court's ruling as soon as possible. Otherwise, people will not believe in the institution anymore," he added.

In its decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the second phase of vote counting by the KPU was incorrect. The KPU's interpretation is that the second phase of seat calculations included only the remaining eligible votes from the first phase of calculations.

However, the Supreme Court ruled that the votes used by the winning parties in the first phase were to be used again in the second phase, costing parties with smaller votes their legislative seats.

That ruling would mean that at least 66 seats would be allocated to major parties at the expense of minor parties at the House of Representatives, according to a calculation by the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro).

Abdul said the KPU needed more time to synchronize the ruling with the one from the Constitutional Court and any possible revisions would be implemented within 90 days after the Supreme Court's ruling was received by the commission.

According to the KPU's interpretation, the 90 days period will fall on Oct. 22., three weeks after the inauguration of the new House legislators, which falls on Oct. 1.

However, the coalition's advocacy team member, Yosef Badoeda, who himself is also a legislative candidate of the Democratic Party, said the KPU had to execute the ruling by Sept. 18.

"The starting point is on the date of the ruling issuance, which was June 18, not on the date in which the KPU received the ruling from the Supreme Court," he said.

A legislative candidate from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Hasto Kristiyanto, said the coalition did not aim to serve the candidates' lust for legislative seats. "We just want to uphold the constitution," he said. (hdt)