Not only are political parties nominating more female candidates for the 2014 legislative election but some are placing 10 at the top of their candidate lists, a study has shown.
The Indonesian Parliament Watch (Formappi) found in its study that female legislative candidate numbers had hit an average of above 30 percent for each political party. Formappi based its study on data provided by the General Elections Commission (KPU).
“This is a good sign. It shows that each party is trying to fulfill KPU’s regulation, and it is time for women to get equal treatment in politics,” Formappi chairman Sebastian Salang said.
Issued by the KPU, Regulation No. 7/2013 stipulates that parties participating in legislative elections must enlist at least 30 percent women as their prospective candidates in each electoral district and must place them on the first to third priority lists. The regulation clearly stipulates that parties can be eliminated from the electoral process if they fail to meet the requirements.
According to a KPU report published on April 28, female candidates accounted for 37.01 percent out of a total 6,576 candidates. Following the verification of legal documents submitted by the participating parties, women now account for 37.36 percent out of a total 6,550 candidates.
New political party the National Democratic (NasDem) party has recorded the highest percentage of female participation as more than 40 percent of its total 560 candidates are women.
Meanwhile, the United Development Party (PPP) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) recorded the second and third highest percentages, with 39.39 percent and 39.14 percent, respectively.
Female candidates are also getting more recognition from parties with top position placement.
According to the Formappi study, all electoral districts have female candidates in the first and second listings except for Aceh I, which covers: Southeast Aceh, West Aceh, Greater Aceh, Piddie, Simeulue, Aceh Singkil, Northwest Aceh, Gayo Lues, Aceh Jaya, Nagan Raya, Pidie Jaya, Banda Aceh, Sabang and Subulussalam.
Sebastian said that putting female candidates on first and second lists on the ballots showed good progress as these levels had been dominated by male candidates in the past.
“It’s good that women are in the first and second listings as they will have more chances to win. Most candidates on the first and second listings in the 2009 legislative election are currently members of the House of Representatives,” he added.
However, despite the good progress, Formappi said that the KPU still needs to work on some issues, particularly regarding candidates who are listed on the rosters of more than one party.
“We expect the KPU to open up access so that the public can know the content of prospective candidate lists so that they can file complaints should there be irregularities. On the other hand, political parties should also clarify the problems that are causing complaints,” Sebastian said.
Meanwhile, KPU commissioner Ferry Kurnia Rizkiyansyah said that the KPU would only change the current prospective candidates lists if candidates died, resigned or if people filed complaints.
