Ahok Suggests Maximum Restrictions On The Coalition For Regional Head Election Candidacy

Chairman of the DPP for the PDIP Economy Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (ANTARA/Narda Margaretha Sinambela)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the PDI-P (PDIP) DPP Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) proposed that there be a maximum limiting rule for the number of seats and coalitions of political parties in the nomination in the regional elections.

According to Ahok, this restriction needs to be considered by the government and the DPR to be applied in the implementation of the next regional elections.

"Maybe in the future, I think the government and the Indonesian House of Representatives may have to think about it, not only providing a minimum nomination limit, but maybe there is a maximum limit," said Ahok at the PDIP DPP office, Central Jakarta, Wednesday, August 14.

Ahok said, because there were no maximum restrictions on the supporting coalition, this caused the phenomenon of a fat coalition that only supports one candidate pair in certain areas.

"Of course there must be a limit, so there will be no more wholesale stories or parties that are afraid," said Ahok.

The former governor of DKI Jakarta continued, there is an example of one of the districts where the incumbent regent is running again as a candidate for regional head.

In the nomination of regional elections, all political parties prefer to avoid competition with these candidates. As a result, the right of the public to choose candidates for regional heads is limited.

"That's also not good for the party organization process," said Ahok.

"I think this is part of our common task to think about, so that our democracy will take longer, get better. The point is, people have a lot of choices," he continued.