The General Elections Commission (KPU) has called on the House of

Representatives to immediately complete the deliberation of the

election bill and later pass it into law.

KPU member Wahyu Setiawan said it was important for the House to
pass the bill so that the commission could immediately outline its work
agenda since the legislative and presidential elections will run
simultaneously in April 2019.

An election bill prepared as soon as possible would be very beneficial

for political parties participating in the 2019 election and all Indonesian
people because they would be able to adjust themselves to the new
rules to get quality election results, Wahyu told journalists on the
sidelines of his work visit to Banyumas regency, Central Java, on
Saturday.

The election bill merges three laws, namely Law No. 8/2012 on
legislative elections, Law No.15/2011 on election organizers and Law
No. 42/2008 on presidential elections.

We are worried that stages of the simultaneous legislative and

presidential elections in April 2019 would not be prepared well if the
new election law is passed too late. The sooner the House passes the
election bill into law, the better prepared the KPU will be ahead of the
2019 legislative and presidential elections, said Wahyu.

Despite such slow deliberation, he said, the KPU has continued

preparing for the 2019 elections and communicating with the House,
which has the authority to pass the bill into law. (ebf)