Anita Rachman, Jakarta – A budget watchdog has called for greater cost-cutting measures to stop regional elections from getting too expensive but warned against following through with a government proposal to appoint rather than elect certain leaders.

The Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra) said on Tuesday that better budget management and scrapping unimportant posts was the key to limiting the cost of elections.

"The funding for regional elections should come from the state budget only, not from both the state and regional budgets," said Yuna Farhan, the Fitra secretary general. "Based on simulations in our research, the costs of regional elections can brought down by as much as 50 percent."

Fitra's research comes in response to a proposal by Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi, first aired in August, that governors be appointed by provincial legislators rather than through direct elections. This would mark a return to the old system of appointing governors, which was only abolished in favor of direct elections with the onset of the reform era in 1998.

Gamawan's argument was that with progressively more authority being devolved to district heads and mayors, governor elections were beginning to cost more than they were worth. The government also cited the rising trend of vote-buying by candidates as a major concern.

However, Fitra has argued that stripping the vote from the people and handing it over to regional legislatures would only shift the practice of vote-buying to a new stage, and not eradicate it.

"Based on our research, we've come to several conclusions that should be considered for future elections," Yuna said, adding the group would submit its findings to the Home Affairs Ministry, Finance Ministry and House of Representatives for consideration.

Fitra's research, supported by the Asia Foundation and AusAID, found one way to cut the cost of regional elections would be to reduce or even eliminate some unimportant posts, such as those for subdistrict voting officials (PPS), whose only job is to help organize the polling.

Yuna said that if all polling commission members and activists were properly trained, they would not need any PPS staff to help out on polling day. Fitra also suggested that regional administrations draft a standard budget for election commissioners to follow.

The group added that the commissioners should also optimize the final voter lists so there would not be any multiple entries or errors that could result in electoral disputes, which would only drive up the cost of the election.

The group's research was based on studies of elections in 11 districts and cities, including North Lombok, Bandung, Surabaya, Medan, Ogan Ilir, Solok, Bengkalis and Manado.

Arif Wibowo, a member of House Commission II overseeing domestic affairs, agreed it is important to find ways to make regional elections cheaper.

"We shouldn't be so hasty about giving power back to the regional legislatures," he said, further suggesting that regional elections could be cheaper if held simultaneously.