Camelia Pasandaran – The General Elections Commission officially announced the results of the April 9 legislative elections on Wednesday, with House Speaker Agung Laksono of the Golkar Party and Balkan Kaplale of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party failing to win seats.
After a long meeting interrupted by Wednesday's earthquake, KPU Chairman Abdul Hafiz Anshary and commission member Andi Nurpati read the names of elected candidates.
The commission delayed announcing winners in Papua due to errors in the data-entry process. The problems, if corrected, would mean a legislative candidate of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) would be replaced by a candidate from the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra).
"We are arguing on this matter intensely and so we put off deciding on this case," Nur Hidayat Sardini, chairman of the Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu), said at a news conference.
Arif Wibowo, senior member of the PDI-P, said on Wednesday that his party was ready to take legal action if the PDI-P seat was given to Gerindra, its coalition partner in the July 8 presidential election.
The commission also delayed naming substitutes for four candidates it had disqualified: Eri Purnomo Hadi, a candidate of National Mandate Party (PAN) from West Java who also serves as a commissioner of BPMigas; Suwardjono of Gerindra, a civil servant in Central Java who is believed to have used a fake diploma; and Ahmad Daeng Se're and Moch Mahfud, both from the United Development Party (PPP), from South Sulawesi and East Java, respectively, on the grounds that their names had not been listed on the provisional candidates list.
Nur Hidayat Sardini from Bawaslu said his office would continue investigating the cases. "We have seven days to investigate before the KPU issues another decision."
A string of legal challenges and seemingly contradictory rulings from the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court had prompted the KPU to delay announcing the elections results several times.
On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court, which by law has the final authority for resolving election challenges, settled all outstanding disputes, paving the way for the KPU to announce the results on Wednesday.
Bawaslu warned the KPU earlier on Wednesday to carefully calculate the legislative seat allocations.
Despite this warning, Bambang Eka Cahya Widodo, a Bawaslu member, said the board had already discovered mistakes in the KPU's seat allocations. "We found some errors in the seat allocation process," Bambang said without elaborating.
As many as 115 candidates from the Democratic Party, PDI-P and the Golkar Party had earlier said they would challenge the result, but state law experts suggested that the politicians stood no chance to win a legal battle as the Constitutional Court's rulings are considered final and binding.