Ulma Haryanto – The Constitutional Court on Thursday put an end to the long and bitter dispute between the nation's two election oversight bodies, granting the Election Supervisory Board the authority to select regional elections supervisors, but denying its request to prevent the General Elections Commission from appointing disciplinary councils.

"Considering that the regional elections have to adhere to the principles of fairness and independence, the Constitutional Court... gives the board the authority to select [all] three members of the regional supervisory committees [Panwas] after the candidates go through a fit and proper test," Court Chief Mahfud MD said on Thursday.

Previously, the law allowed the commission, also known as the KPU, to select the members of the Panwas, which supervise the polls in their respective regions. Each of the 244 regional elections should have a Panwas, which means there are 732 members to be named.

During a plenary court session last week, legal experts said this process threatened the independence and fairness of the election, as the Panwas – the supervisory committee – should not be selected by the body it would supervise, which is the KPU.

The inability of the KPU and the supervisory board, known as Bawaslu, to settle this dispute has led to dueling Panwas bodies being set up in some regions. The vice president and the home affairs minister have tried to mediate the dispute, but to no avail. Discussions in the cabinet also have not resulted in a settlement.

The Constitutional Court, however, denied Bawaslu's request to revise an article under the same law regarding the formulation of an Honorary Council, which has the power to discipline the KPU.

Bawaslu wants the composition of the councils to be changed, arguing that three of the five members of each council are from the KPU, and are therefore biased. But the court claimed the article was an "open policy" and therefore did not necessarily conflict with the 1945 Constitution.

"However the court would like to suggest that whenever such a council is formed, the council should have the same amount of representatives from both the KPU and the Bawaslu plus one from an external party," Mahfud continued, adding that the court believed the supervision from Bawaslu itself was sufficient.

The Constitutional Court also ratified the 192 Panwas members that Bawaslu had already appointed. The KPU protested that move, claiming that it was contrary to their agreement since Bawaslu had not coordinated the inauguration of the Panwas members with the KPU.

"However, to assure that the regional election should go on as scheduled, the Constitutional Court gave its approval on the 192 members, and urged the [supervisory] committee to perform their task according to the existing law," Mahfud said.

Outside the court, Hadar Gumay, chairman of the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro), offered a mixed opinion of the decision.

"I was still a bit disappointed because they denied revision on the Honorary Council article," he said. "However we should remain optimistic. There is still a possibility for the article to be revised at the legislature. I myself think that the composition for the Council should be one each from Bawaslu and KPU and three from external parties."