Voting System Provokes Corruption

VIVAnews - The alleged bribery case involving a member of National Mandate Party (PAN) Faction of Commission V of the House of the Representatives (DPR), Abdul Hadi Djamal, was viewed an impact of the voting system applying majority of votes in determining the candidates of the legislative members.

"He took the risk although the party has already signed the anti-corruption [declaration]. He had to [do it] to win," said Arbi Sanit, a political analyst from the University of Indonesia on Wednesday, March 4.

Abdul Hadi was a DPR member resulting from the 2004 elections. He ran for the 2009 legislative elections for Electoral Area I, South Sulawesi province. But he was arrested by the investigators of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for allegedly taking bribes in a development project of dock and port.

The majority votes is a new system applied in the Elections in Indonesia. This system specifies the mechanism for gaining parliamentary seats. Only candidates gaining the majority of votes will be able to have parliamentary seats.

The system is deemed doubling the fund requirement for a legislative candidate running campaign in an electoral region.

That is the reason of why Sanit worries that the new system will trigger legislative candidates to apply various illegal ways for winning the elections.

Furthermore, Sanit said that the voting mechanism is basically implemented too early, which causes most of the candidates to be unprepared of it.

--

Translated by: Ariyantri E. Tarman