MK'S RULING MAY REDUCE WOMEN'S PARLIAMENTARY SEATS

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Dec 25 (ANTARA) - The widely welcomed Constitutional Court (MK)'s ruling this week which annulled article 214 of law on election is feared to hamper the fulfillment of women's 30 percent seat quota in parliament.

        The Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday that seats in the country's legislatures would go to the candidates who secured the most votes. The MK annulled article 214, which stipulated that seats were to be distributed to candidates based on their numerical order.

        The United Development Party (PPP), which basically accepts the MK ruling, said it would affect the fulfillment of women's quota in parliament.

        "We initially hope that by putting in advance in the list the number of many female candidates, women would have more chances to be elected members of national and regional legislatures," said Lukman Hakim Saefudin, chairman of the PPP faction in the House of Representatives (DPR).

        The MK's decision will require the General Elections Commission (KPU) to implement the system where national and regional legislative seats are to be distributed to candidates who secure the most votes.

        According to Saefudin, the new ruling will automatically affect political parties' intention in placing their female candidates in the top of their numerical order list.

        "Now, all candidates have equal chance to win, no matter whether they are placed in the first numerical order, in the middle or in the bottom of the list. Therefore, PPP is no longer motivated to place female candidates based on numerical order," said Saefudin.

        With this system, female candidates who are placed in advance based on the numeral order no longer have chances to reap votes from candidates ranked in the bottom of the list.

        "Female candidates must also work hard if they want to win a seat in parliament," Saefudin said.

        He said that with the change in the system, PPP will also change its strategy in the coming elections. The legislative election is scheduled on April 9, 2009.

        "The new ruling will likely change PPP strategy because so far PPP has been accustomed to the numerical order system," Saefudin said.

        In the meantime, the Women Defenders for Pancasila Democracy Movement (GPPDP) has voiced its protest against the MK's ruling.

        Yudha Irlang, member of the Working Group for Female Representation of the GPPDP, said MK through its decision has negated women's struggle for their representation in parliament.

        "The Constitutional Court ruling is questionable. It has discouraged women's struggle," Irlang, who was accompanied by the Indonesian Women's Coalition Secretary General Masruchah, said.

        She said that the annulment of Article 214, Law No. 10/2008 on Legislative Elections negated the substance of other articles in the same law which stipulated the representation of women in parliament.

        Irlang said the law on legislative election had been endorsed by the House of Representatives and the government, where the system to be adopted was a proportional system that could tolerate a specific action for the sake women's representation.

        The distribution of seats based on the collection of most votes is feared to spoil democracy. It is feared that candidates with enough fund sources would use money politics and approach voters.

        Ray Rangkuti, director of non-governmental organization (LIMA), said that the MK decision was feared to lead parties to be involved "vote transactions".

        "It is quite possible for candidates, particularly those who feel themselves not so popular, to involve in votes transactions," he said on the sidelines of a discussion forum in Jakarta on Wednesday.

        Therefore, he said, the Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) and the public at large should keep an eye on the possibility of vote transaction practices. "The election committee at the district level is a place prone to money politics," Rangkuti said.

        In the meantime, Masruchah was of the view that the MK's ruling was adversely contradictory to the constitution. She said that Law No.10/ 2008 on Legislative Elections had accommodated the representation of 30 percent women in parliament.

        The law required that one of each three legislative candidates must be female. With the new stipulation that seats are to be distributed to candidates who secured the most votes, instead of to those listed in advance based on numerical order, the regulation on the female representative would be meaningless, according to Masruchah.

        KPU chairman Hafiz Anshary said however that the MK decision would not affect women's quota in parliament.

        "The MK ruling will not change the quota of women in parliament but the votes they would secure will depend on the voters' choices," he said.

        Abdul Hafiz Anshary at his office said that the KPU would issue a draft regulation on legislative candidacy following the Constitutional Court's decision.

        "The court's decision as a legal product has to be upheld. The KPU will implement the decision by issuing a draft regulation on legislative candidacy. It is now still under deliberation," he said.  (T.A014/HNG/A/E002) 25-12-2008 23:02:19