JAKARTA. House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs, human rights and security elected Agus Rahardjo, 59, as the new Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman through a vote in a plenary session on Thursday evening.

Agus won obtained 44 votes, far outnumbering Basaria Pandjaitan, who won nine votes, and Thony Saut Situmorang who got one vote. Two other elected KPK commissioners, namely Alexander Marwata and Thony Saut Situmorang, got no votes.

"Based on the election, Agus Rahardjo got 44 votes, Basaria Pandjaitan got nine votes and Saut Situmorang got one vote. Therefore, the KPK chairman for the 2014-2019 term is Agus Rahardjo," Commission III chairman Azis Syamsuddin said after the election held in the Commission III meeting room in the House complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Thursday evening.

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Agus was elected in the second stage of voting to select one of the elected five commissioners to be the next KPK chairman. He was the head of the government’s Goods and Services Procurement Policy Agency from 2010 to 2015 and spent two decades as a civil servant at the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas).

Born in Magetan, East Java, Agus graduated from the Sepuluh November Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1984. He went to Arthur D. Little School of Management — now the Hult International Business School — in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the US, and obtained a master’s degree in management in 1991.

House Commission III elected Agus, Alexander, Basaria Panjaitan, Laode Syarif and Saut Situmorang as new KPK commissioners for the period of 2015-2019 in the first stage of voting on Thursday evening.

"Elected candidates are those who obtained more than 28 votes. Thus, the selected leaders for 2015-2019 are Alexander Marwata, Saut Situmorang, Basaria Pandjaitan, Agus Rahardjo and Laode Muhammad Syarif," Azis said.

The voting result will be taken to a plenary session to get official approval from all House members on Friday. Fifty-four members from 10 factions voted on Thursday evening.

During screening at the House, Agus said he mentioned optimize the use of technology in the government system, such as for procurements.