Deputy minister: President unlikely to reject regional elections bill

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SURABAYA - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is unlikely to reject the regional chief indirect election bill (known by its local abreviation as RUU Pilkada) that has won the most voted by the House of Representatives on Thursday (Sept 25), according to a deputy minister.

"According to the state's legal administration, the House's plenary meeting was the final step and leaving the president to sign the bill and pass it into law," said Deputy of the Legal and Human Rights Minister Denny Indrayana on Saturday.

Legally, the president has already had an agreement with the House which was then discussed by the Parliament members, where the president has received the outcome of the plenary meeting, Indrayana said.

On September 25, the parliament's plenary meeting held a voting mechanism in taking decision on regional head election bill after the Democrat Party members walked out off the meeting as their proposal was not accommodated by the plenary session.

The DPR Deputy Chairman Priyo Budi Santoso, who chaired the plenary session, stated that 135 DPR members voted in favor of holding direct regional head elections and 361 voted against it.