After the fourth amendment to the 1945 Constitution in 2002, the election of the president and vice president (pilpres), which was originally conducted by the People`s Consultative Assembly (MPR), was agreed to be held directly by and for the people, so the presidential election was included in the election series.
Presidential Election, as part of the election, was held for the first time during the 2004 elections. In 2007, based on Law Number 22 of 2007, the election of regional heads and deputy regional heads (pilkada) was also included as part of the election.
In general, the term "election" more often refers to legislative and presidential elections held every five years. Elections must be conducted regularly, as they serve as a means of monitoring the people`s aspirations to select their representatives.
During the simultaneous regional elections held in 2018, in particular, the mayoral and vice mayoral elections in Makassar was only contested by one pair of candidates, who had the backing of 10 political parties that controlled seats in the legislative parliament.
The 10 political parties that became the bearers in the Makassar pilotali were the Golkar Party, the National Democratic Party (NasDem), the Greater Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the People`s Conscience (Hanura) Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the United Development Party (PPP), Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI), and the Crescent Star Party (PBB).
The remaining party Democrats, who control seven seats, chose to offer their support to incumbent Makassar Mayor Moh Ramdhan Pomanto, who advanced through individual or independent channels.
Munafri Arifuddin, nicknamed Appi, said 10 of the 11 parties in the Makassar DPRD controlled 43 seats in the Makassar DPRD, and they were all solid in supporting the pair of Appi and Rachmatika Dewi (Appi-Cicu).
The solid support of the 10 parties was evident, with almost all party managers, starting from the chairman to the secretary, accompanied him to register with him at the Makassar KPU and vowed to veer the party machine to victory.
"A big thank you to all the supporting parties and our presence here is nothing but hoping for victory and prosperity for the community," he affirmed.
However, on the day of voting, the single candidate pair Appi-Cicu had to swallow the bitter pill of defeat, as the democratic parties failed to fetch him the most votes.
Most votes went to an empty column without a candidate, as the candidate pair supposed to be his opponent was an individual or independent candidate, incumbent Moh Ramdhan Pomanto-Indira Mulyasari Paramastuti (DIAmi).
A month before the voting period, the candidate pair was disqualified by the Makassar General Election Commission (KPU) after a lengthy lawsuit at Bawaslu, the State Administrative High Court (PTTUN) to the Supreme Court (MA).
Candidates have to uphold the highest verdict in this country, the Supreme Court, that strengthened the verdict from PTTUN to disqualify the DIAmi candidate pair, as they are believed to have violated electoral laws, specifically in the KPU Regulation.
The Makassar City Election Commission argues that its decision to write off the candidate pair was taken, as it was guided by the decision of the Supreme Court (MA) that determined the mayor and vice mayor pair of Makassar for the 2018-2023 period to remain a single partner.
"The Makassar City KPU finally decided to stick to the Supreme Court`s decision to address the decision of the Makassar City Supervisory Committee Number: 002 / PS / PWSL.MKS / 27.01 / V / 2018 dated May 13, 2018," Commissioner of Makassar KPU Abdullah Mansyur stated.
The Appi-Cicu candidate pair continued to follow all stages, while DIAmi failed to contest as candidates after being disqualified through a Supreme Court order.
He said, after holding a plenary meeting at the KPU office in South Sulawesi Province on Wednesday (May 16) night, the Makassar City Election Commission Decree Number: 64 / P.KWK / HK.03.1-Kpt / 7371 / KPU-Kot / IV / 2018 was a follow-up to the implementation of the decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia Number: 250 K / TUN / Pilkada / 2018.
Decisions are not included in the definition of State Administrative Decrees based on the provisions of article 2, letter (e) of Law Number 9 of 2004 concerning Amendments to Law Number 5 of 1986 on State Administrative Courts that can be requested for cancellation.
In addition, he continued the decision of the Makassar City Supervisory Committee on the Makassar City Election Commission Decision Object Number: 64 / P.KWK / HK.03.1-K
Makassar Pilkada to be repeated in 2020
The KPU of Makassar has ensured that the mayor and deputy mayor of Makassar will be re-elected in 2020 after the sole candidate pair Appi-Cicu failed to secure the required percentage of the vote.
"As the single candidate pair of Munafri Arifuddin and Rachmatika Dewi failed to attain the stated vote, the mayoral election will be re-held in 2020," Makassar KPU Data and Technical Division Commissioner Abdullah Manshur stated.
He said the sole candidate pair of Appi and Cicu running in the 2018 simultaneous regional election failed to garner votes as opposed to the empty column (koko), so the election had to be repeated.
During that election, the Appi-Cicu single candidate pair only secured 264,245 votes and while the koko got 300,795 votes.
Manshur noted that the single candidate pair of Appi-Cicu received 47 percent of the vote, while the koko garnered 53 percent.
"Thus, the Makassar regional election will be re-held. It should be organized in 2019 but owing to the presidential and legislative elections, the simultaneous local election will be held in 2020," he remarked.
(T. E002/A/INE)
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Eliswan Azly
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
