Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – Despite widespread resistance to the regional elections bill, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) says an end to direct elections of governors, district heads and mayors would be in the people's best interest.

The secretary of the PKS fraction at the House of Representatives, Abdul Hakim, said that the party will work hard to make sure the House of Representatives passes the bill it previously rejected.

Abdul said the party's national board decided on Wednesday that even though direct elections have increased the party's chances to win public office, the PKS would still support the plan to have regional legislative councils (DPRD) select local leaders.

"Direct local elections offer better chances for PKS members to become local leaders, but we think it's in the people's best interest that elections are held by the DPRD," Abdul said on Wednesday.

A poll of 1,200 respondents in 33 provinces released on Tuesday showed that eight out of 10 Indonesians prefer direct elections of sub-national executive offices.

Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) researcher Adjie Alfaraby said the poll found 81.25 percent of Indonesians felt that local leaders should be elected directly by the people. Only 10.71 percent of respondents said they thought the authority to elect local government heads should be returned to local lawmakers, LSI said.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/pks-end-direct-local-elections-peoples-best-interest/