Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister seeks to investigate leak in poll

Mohammad Mahfud MahmodinMahfud Mahmodin, Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Politics, Legal and Security, urged the police to investigate a possible leak involving a Constitutional Court verdict that could potentially change the way the country runs its parliamentary elections.

Mr Mahfud was responding to claims made by former deputy justice minister Mr Denny Indrayana, who said on May 28 that the court has allegedly repealed the so-called open-list proportional representation system for Indonesia's parliamentary elections.

Indonesians can directly vote for a specific candidate through the system. It was adopted in 2009, replacing the closed proportional system where voters can only vote for a political party at the polls.

I received important information this morning. The MK will rule for the legislative election to return to the closed proportional system to pick a party logo on the ballot papers, Mr Indrayana said in a statement to the Constitutional Court.

The former deputy minister said that the information came from a person whose credibility I trust greatly, adding that only three of the nine Constitutional Court judges purportedly agreed to keep the more transparent system in place.