"The draft is there. When it is ready tomorrow, I will check it again to make sure that it is correct," the head of state remarked at the Jakarta Convention Center on Thursday morning.
On Wednesday evening until Thursday morning, President Yudhoyono held a closed-door meeting with several ministers to discuss the draft.
He hoped that the government regulation en lieu of the law could offer a solution to revert back to holding direct regional head elections but with some changes.
"I might send the new regulation to the Parliament in the afternoon or evening," he stated.
Yudhoyono, concurrently chairman of the Democratic Party (PD), earlier noted that his party supported the idea to maintain direct regional head elections.
After a prolonged debate and voting, the House of Representatives (DPR) passed a bill on regional head elections, which stipulates that regional heads such as governors, mayors, and district heads, will be elected by the Regional Legislative Assembly (DPRD), or indirect elections, contrary to direct elections by the public, which had been held over the past decade.
"The result showed that 135 DPR members voted for direct regional head elections and 361 voted against it," Deputy Chairman of the DPR Priyo Budi Santoso, who chaired the prolonged plenary session, revealed during the wee hours on September 26, 2014.
The political parties that supported the bill on indirect elections included Gerindra, Golkar, PKS, PPP, and PAN that are known as the Red-White Coalition. The PDIP, PKB, and Hanura wanted the system of direct regional head elections to be maintained.
The Democratic Party (PD), which has the largest numbers of members in the parliament and thus commands a decisive number of votes, decided to walk out and abstain from voting. The ruling party earlier announced its support for continuing the system of holding direct elections but with some improvements.
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Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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