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Up to five ministers in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s cabinet have been given a week to submit their resignations if they want to take up their new positions as elected lawmakers in the House of Representatives.

A sixth member of the cabinet, Adhyaksa Dault, the minister for youth and sports affairs, recently announced he would give up his new seat in the House, also known as the DPR, to finish his term as minister, which expires in October.

Adhyaksa has not, however, ruled out seeking a second term as minister.

I Gusti Putu Artha, a member of the General Elections Commission (KPU), said on Wednesday the ministers must resign 21 days before the new House legislators were sworn in.

“That means by September 9 they should have all left their posts. Otherwise,” Putu said, “they are not going to be inaugurated as legislative members.”

The Law on Legislative Elections bans lawmakers from holding positions in the government, state-owned enterprises or other institutions funded by the state.

Besides Adhyaksa, the other cabinet members likely to be named as legislators-elect are Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Freddy Numberi, State Minister for Disadvantaged Regions Lukman Eddy, State Minister for Administrative Reform Taufik Effendi, Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik and State Minister for Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Suryadharma Ali.

The KPU issued the warning after the Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) reminded the commission that lawmakers were not allowed to hold positions in the government.

Bawaslu also submitted the names of seven other people expected to be named as legislators-elect who it said should not be allowed to sit in the House.

Wirdianingsih, a member of Bawaslu, said the seven were not qualified to be lawmakers because they either had not been registered on the temporary voters list or submitted fake school diplomas, while another was a current commissioner at state-owned BPMigas.

She did not provide names.

“We told the KPU to delay the announcement only for candidates whose qualifications have not been cleared,” she said during a break in a meeting on Wednesday between Bawaslu and the KPU.

“We demand the KPU just delete those who are not qualified to be declared as new legislative members,” she said.

Putu said the commission was looking into Bawaslu’s claims.

“We will discuss this further with Bawaslu and make a decision later,” he said.

Andi Nurpati, another member of the KPU, said political parties should ready replacement candidates for those found to be unqualified. “If we remove their names, it is the right of the political parties to propose other candidates as replacements.”