Hadar Gumay Elected as Acting KPU Chair
Jakarta. Hadar Nafis Gumay has been elected as the new acting chairperson of General Election Commission, or KPU, in a plenary meeting on Tuesday (12/07), following the sudden passing of Husni Kamil Manik last week.
KPU commissioner Sigit Pamungkas, who led the meeting, said Hadar had been elected by the six commissioners during the meeting.
“As acting chair, Hadar will handle an administrative role and represent the commission in communication with other institutions,” Sigit told a press briefing in Jakarta.
Hadar will head up the KPU until a definitive chairperson is elected in a plenary meeting scheduled for next Monday, Sigit said.
“The law instructed that the KPU chair must be elected through ‘musyawarah mufakat’ [deliberation towards consensus] or voting. But most likely and usually, it will be the first option,” he said.
The new definitive chair will replace Husni Kamil Manik, who died from acute infection at a hospital in South Jakarta last week.
In the previous three years, including under the leadership of Husni, KPU commissioners have drawn on so-called collective collegial decisions made by consensus.
KPU will also send a letter to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to formally inform the president of the unexpected death of the chairman and the need to fill his role.
A new commissioner will be proposed by the president, based on the results of 14 commissioner candidate fit and proper tests conducted in 2012.
The results place election activist Hasyim Asyari as the top candidate to join the chair, as long as he passes a health exam and is not a member of a political party.
Tags: Keywords: