JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – After winning a voting at the House of Representatives (DPR) for the election of regional leaders by the Regional Legislative Council (DPRD), Prabowo Subianto’s Red-and-White coalition starts to thrown out controversial idea to erase direct presidential election and to reinstate the presidential election by the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), Tempo reported.
PAN Deputy Secretary General Herman Kadir, as quoted by Koran Tempo on Monday (Sep. 29), said the direct presidential election has divided the people and triggered conflicts among supporters of the presidential candidates. That’s why, the presidential election should be returned to the mechanism at the MPR, Herman said.
Commenting to the controversial idea, a key leader from President SBY’s Democratic Party Hayono Isman said there is a possibility to reinstate the presidential election by the MPR as long as the Red-and-White coalition could control the majority seats at the MPR.
The Red-and-White coalition consisting of five political parties at the DPR will control 292 out of 692 total seats at the MPR or about 42.19%. They are Gerindra Party, Golkar Party, PKS, PAN, and PPP. Should Democratic Party join the coalition, then this coalition will control majority seats with 353 seats or 51.01% of the total seats at the MPR. (haryantos@yosefardi.biz)