Democratic Party Resigns from Pilkada Bill Discussion
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23 August 2024 23:26 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Democratic Party's faction in the House of Representatives (DPR) has withdrawn from further decision-making in a plenary session regarding the revision of the Regional Heads Election (Pilkada) Law.
Democratic Party Faction advisor Benny Kabur Harman said the decision was taken after carefully observing and listening to the aspirations of students and various elements of the public who protested against the bill on Thursday, August 22.
The Democratic Faction, he continued, also took into account the stages of the implementation period for the regional election registration, which is approaching, as well as the enforcement of the Constitution in this decision.
"We encourage the General Election Commission (KPU) to immediately draft a KPU regulation that complies with the Constitutional Court's decision," Benny said in a written statement obtained by Tempo on Friday, August 23.
With this position, the Democratic Faction also calls on all elements of society, students, political parties and election organizers to support the implementation of peaceful, democratic, honest and fair regional elections.
Complete U-turn
On Wednesday, August 21, the Democrat Party was one of eight political party factions that approved the fourth amendment to the regional election law. Only the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) faction rejected the results of the session.
"The PDIP faction stated that it does not agree with the draft law to be discussed at the next level," said DPR Baleg member Muhamad Nurdin from the PDIP faction, reading out the faction's views at a plenary session on Wednesday.
The DPR legislative body approved the revision of the Regional Election Law just one day after the Constitutional Court issued its decisions on two petitions related to the Regional Election Law. The first is decision number 60/PUU-XXII/2024, which no longer requires parties to have a minimum threshold of 20 percent of seats or 25 percent of valid votes to be able to nominate regional heads. The threshold for nomination will be lowered to between 6.5 and 10 percent, depending on the number of permanent voter lists (DPT) in the region.
The Constitutional Court also issued Decision No. 70/PUU-XXII/2024, which stipulates that the minimum age limit for candidates for regional head positions is to be calculated from the time when the pairs of candidates are decided, not from the time of their swearing-in ceremony after their election, as decided by the Supreme Court in Decision No. 23 P/HUM/2024.
The DPR did not accommodate either decision.
ANDI ADAM FATURAHMAN
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