"I personally do not want to see any regression. During my presidency, the president, the vice-president, the district heads, the mayors and the governors were directly elected by the people. Thats my preference and I do not change," Yudhoyono said at a press conference here on Thursday.
He added that Indonesia's democracy had made great progress over the last decade, hence it cannot take a step backward by opting for the indirect elections.
"Therefore, the political process in Parliament, as I said, was a regression, and I have been fighting politically to make our democracy progressive and retain the direct elections. Frankly speaking, there should be a serious improvement in the law and its implementation. Unfortunately, the Democratic Partys proposal was rejected by all factions, both the Red and White Coalition, as well as the PDI and its coalition," the President said.
"Despite this new development, the Democratic Party will be consistent with its stance -- that the best regional head election system is direct elections -- with 10 suggestions for improvement.
He said his party will file a legal suit, either in the Constitutional Court or in the Supreme Court, challenging Parliaments decision on indirect regional elections, which was decided through voting on Thursday evening.
Yudhoyono had earlier expressed his disappointment over the results of the voting, to endorse a bill on the regional head elections, during a plenary meeting of Parliament.
"I am disappointed with the results of the political process in the House of Representatives (DPR), even though I respect it as a democratic process, but again, I was disappointed with the process and its results," Yudhoyono stated.
He said he expected that the House had not reached the decision by voting but by lobbying, if at all someone had supported the option proposed by the Democratic Party.
"With these results, I have to tell the Indonesian people that the Democratic Party will propose a law suit. We will discuss whether to appeal in the Supreme Court or the Constitutional Court," he stated.
Earlier, the DPR, after a long debate in a plenary session early on Friday, decided through voting to endorse a bill on the indirect regional head elections.
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EDITED BY INE
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Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2014
