Election Supervisory Body Recommends Another Round Of Registration Period

Jakarta (Antara Bali)- The General Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) has recommended another round of registration period particularly for the seven regions having less than two tickets standing for the regional head elections.

The recommendation was conveyed to the General Elections Commission (KPU) for improving efficiency and effectiveness in the implementation of the simultaneous regional head elections (Pilkada) scheduled to be held on December 9, Chairman of Bawaslu Muhammad stated here on Wednesday.

Besides this, the extension of the registration period is also meant to provide more space to the public to exercise their political rights through political parties, he added.

"There is still likelihood that the KPU could allow local political parties to propose more candidates in the regions having less than two tickets," he affirmed.

He suggested the KPU to hold the third round of the seven-day registration period.

The KPU has announced that seven regions have less than two tickets to contest for Pilkada scheduled on December 9, 2015.

The seven regions were Tasikmalaya in West Java; Surabaya, Blitar, and Pacitan in East Java; Mataram in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB); Samarinda in East Kalimantan; and North Timor Tengah in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), KPU Chairman Husni Kamil Manik noted recently.

Regional head elections in the aforementioned seven regions have to be postponed as they failed to increase the number of candidates even after holding the second round of the registration period on August 1-3, 2015.

Besides this, 86 regions have only two tickets each to contest in the local elections. An additional registration round is expected to provide an opportunity to political parties to propose more candidates.

The first round of the registration period for the regional head candidates took place in 269 regions across Indonesia on July 26-28, 2015, and has run smoothly and peacefully, in general.

The Indonesian government will hold Pilkada to elect governors in nine provinces, district heads in 224 districts, and mayors in 36 cities.

The number of regional head candidates that have registered with the KPU until August 3, 2015, increased to 838 tickets, according to the KPU.  (WDY)