Parliament Calls Off Session To Ratify Local Elections Law

TheIndonesia.id - The House of Representatives' (DPR's) plenary session to ratify the revisions of the Law on Regional Leaders' Election, planned on Thursday morning, was called off over a lack of quorum.

"We will call for another meeting of the parliament's Legislative Body to reschedule the plenary session due to the current lack of quorum," DPR Deputy Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad stated while presiding over the plenary session, as quoted by Antara.

The deputy speaker promptly stroked his gavel to end the session. MPs then withdrew from the plenary hall.

Ahmad remarked that the plenary session was attended only by 176 MPs, comprising 89 present at the plenary hall and another 87 who joined remotely.

The number was below the quorum, set to 50 percent plus one of the DPR's 575 members. The quorum was also not satisfied as not all party fractions were present at the meeting, as required by parliamentary rules.

On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court (MK) decided that the threshold for nominating candidates for regional head and deputy regional head posts should be solely on votes gained in regional elections instead of by seats in regional parliaments.

The verdict effectively overrode Article 40(1) of the Law on Regional Leaders' Election, which earlier required parties to either gain 25 percent of the vote share or 20 percent of the regional parliaments' seats to nominate candidates.

The Court also declared on the same day that the age threshold for regional head candidates -- 30 years for governor and 25 years for district heads and mayors -- should be counted from the candidate's registration day.

However, DPR's Legislative Body and the government speedily approved on Wednesday revisions to the Law on Regional Leaders' Election for ratification at the plenary session. The revision only partly adheres to the MK ruling.

The revised draft stated that the votes threshold for regional head elections shall apply only to parties who failed to enter regional parliaments, while the parliamentary parties remain subject to the parliament seat threshold.

Moreover, the revision also stated that the age threshold for regional leaders should be counted from the inauguration day instead of the registration day. The parliament said an earlier Supreme Court verdict justified the change.