Indonesia may abolish direct local elections for governor and district chief under the terms of a new draft bill, a senior politician said today.

More than two-thirds of the 550 legislators supported a bill according to which local leaders would be elected by the local legislatures, instead of directly by voters, said Muhammad Romahurmuziy, secretary-general of the United Development Party.

The bill was expected to be passed by the end of this month, he said, just before the term of the current legislature ends.

A gubernatorial election costs a province about 1 trillion rupiah (US$85 million) and a district chief election 100 billion rupiah to organise, said Romahurmuziy.

Direct local elections began in 2005 as part of central government’s move to devolve power to the regions after the fall of dictator Suharto in 1998.

But Kennedy Muslim, a political analyst at Indikator Politik Indonesia, opposed to the move, saying it would be impossible for reform-minded leaders like president-elect Joko Widodo to emerge under an indirect election system.     

Outgoing Jakarta Governor Joko will be sworn in as president on Oct 20.

- dpa