SP/Anastasia Winanti – Political parties tied to former Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Suharto family member Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra have been given a lifeline to stand candidates in the 2014 election despite earlier being rejected by the poll organizer.
The body overseeing the nation's election authorities on Tuesday decided that the 18 political parties that failed to pass the first part of the administrative verification process can still stand in the next round of national elections.
Jimly Asshiddiqie, the chief of the Election Organizers Ethics Council (DKPP), on Tuesday announced that the body had approved the request of the Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) and election watchdog Sigma that the General Election Commission (KPU) allow previously-rejected parties to stand for election.
Bawaslu and Sigma reported the KPU to the DKPP for ethics violations during the verification process, which is designed to ensure that parties are of a minimum size, have adequate female representation and have foundations across the country.
The KPU announced on Oct. 28 that 16 of 34 parties passed the first part of the verification process to become eligible to contest the 2014 elections.
Among those who were rejected were the National Republican Party, which was founded by Tommy, a son of former dictator Suharto, and the Independent People's Union (SRI) Party, which said it wanted to nominate Sri Mulyani, now a senior World Bank official, as its presidential candidate.
The Christian-based Prosperous Peace Party, which participated in the last two elections, has also been reinstated after failing to make the cut.
Among the alleged ethical violations raised by Bawaslu and Sigma was KPU's delay in releasing the verification results, which were scheduled for Oct. 23-25. awaslu also claimed that 12 of the 18 parties that didn't make the first cut should have passed.
Though the DKPP decided that the KPU did not behave unethically, Jimly said the 18 parties had the same constitutional rights as the parties that passed. Jimly warned the KPU to operate more professionally and transparently in future.
KPU chairman Husni Kamil Manik said he would hold an internal meeting to discuss the decision. "We have to carefully consider our response," Husni said. "We'll read it again. Who knows if what we heard and what we read is different?
"The final results of the verification process of political parties will be decided on Jan. 9-13, 2013."
The 16 parties approved by the KPU in the verification process were the nine parties that currently hold seats in the House of Representatives as well as the National Democratic Party (backed by media moguls Surya Paloh and Hary Tanoesoedibjo), the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party, the New Indonesian National Sovereignty Party, the National Union Party, the National People's Concern Party, the People's Democratic Party, and the Star Crescent Party.