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Ex-graft convicts may contest election: Court

Jakarta Post - September 14, 2018

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Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of former corruption convicts challenging the General Elections Commission (KPU) regulation that bans them from contesting the 2019 legislative election.

The former graft convicts challenged the KPU regulation on the grounds that it contradicted the stipulations of the 2017 Election Law.

"The Election Law allows [ex-graft convicts] to run in elections under certain requirements, but the KPU entirely closed the door on that," Supreme Court spokesperson Suhadi said on Friday.

The country's highest court handed down its ruling, which is final and binding, on Thursday.

KPU Regulation No. 20/2018 has become a subject of dispute between the KPU and the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), which decided to allow 18 ex-graft convicts from 16 regions run as legislative candidates in next year's elections.

Bawaslu maintained that the KPU regulation was not in line with the Election Law and that the agency wanted to refer to the Election Law, not the KPU regulation. (ahw)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/09/14/ex-graft-convicts-may-contest-election-court.html.