Organizing the 2020 Pilkada during Indonesia’s Covid-19 outbreak has indeed had many impacts.
By
Titi Anggraini
·6 minutes read
Amid the surge in Covid-19 cases and various public criticisms, the government, the House of Representatives and the General Elections Commission (KPU) are still determined to proceed with the 2020 simultaneous regional elections (Pilkada) in 270 regions.
The government has presented many reasons as to why it is deliberately proceeding with its plans to hold the 2020 Pilkada, despite the widespread perception that its Covid-19 mitigation efforts have not been optimal. These reasons range from an urgency to elect and install (regional) leaders in a timely manner, the regional elections as a medium to control Covid-19 and the elections as an occasion to help the economy to recover, as well as references to other countries that have held elections successfully during the pandemic.
Organizing the 2020 Pilkada during Indonesia’s Covid-19 outbreak has indeed had many impacts. The elections have become more complicated, complex and expensive, and have affected voter access to information as well as the quality of level competition among candidates during the campaign season (Adhy Aman, 2020).
Therefore, holding the elections during the public health emergency must be supported by a strong legal basis, broad political support, clear and transparent public communication and proportionate action. It must also be based on the best scientific information available, including supporting data from health authorities, clear time frames and prioritizing the protection of particular groups that are especially vulnerable to Covid-19 (Kofi Annan Foundation Open Letter, 2020).
Inclusive voting
Unfortunately, the strong determination to hold the 2020 regional elections has not been supported by truly powerful legal instruments. The existing laws the 2020 Pilkada refer to are laws that apply to normal conditions, and they do not offer a special mechanism for holding the regional elections during a pandemic. All technical adjustments that have been made to organize the 2020 Pilkada are based on those provisions that election organizers have issued through new regulations.
For example, the KPU issued KPU Regulation No. 6/2020, which specifically regulates the organization of the simultaneous elections during the Covid-19 nonnatural disaster. The regulation contains a number of special provisions to ensure that the elections are held in line with the current health protocols and do not become a new vector of Covid-19 transmission. These provisions include the consistent implementation of 3M protocols (wearing masks, washing hands and physical distancing), restrictions on the number of campaign participants, a ban on crowd-drawing campaign events and activities, restrictions on the number of voters at each polling station (TPS) and a scheduled timetable for voters to arrive at TPS.
The KPPS workers tasked with assisting hospitalized patients in casting their ballots have been issued complete personal protective equipment (PPE).
In order to guarantee an inclusive election, the KPU has in fact made special arrangements to ensure that both hospitalized Covid-19 patients and people in self-isolation will be able to exercise their voting rights. Towards this end, election workers from the polling station working committee (KPPS) are coordinating with hospitals and regional Covid-19 task forces. The KPPS workers tasked with assisting hospitalized patients in casting their ballots have been issued complete personal protective equipment (PPE). For self-isolating people, KPPS workers are to serve them in person at the isolation facility, with the approval of an election observer and the regional election monitoring body or the polling station supervisor to guarantee the confidentiality of these ballots.
As a matter of fact, this mechanism has received much public attention and has also raised concerns about its implementation, which has been deemed inhumane because authorities seem to be prioritizing the elections rather than the value of human life as regards patients who are receiving treatment for Covid-19. Moreover, 8,369 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded on 3 Dec. 2020, the highest daily spike since the first confirmed cases in early March.
Many satirical posts on social media criticize the decision to facilitate the voting rights of Covid-19 patients as unwise and dangerous. Meanwhile, the KPU regulation is in fact an effort to uphold the principle of free and fair elections in organizing the 2020 Pilkada so that it is able to guarantee voter rights in the best possible way.
Technical problems
However, there are technical problems in the voting process for Covid-19 patients that should be of concern. First, even though they may be wearing full PPE, the KPPS workers helping to fulfill the patients’ right to vote are not health workers who are familiar with the proper procedures for handling Covid-19 patients. Furthermore, even professional health workers who are trained in healthcare safety procedures can contract Covid-19, so the potential for transmission could be even greater for KPPS workers, since they are not health professionals.
Not running such a simulation will very likely lead to anxiety among KPPS workers and could result in potential health protocol violations during actual execution.
Second, the KPU has not held a special simulation to assist Covid-19 patients in casting their ballots to ensure that the process goes smoothly and that the efforts to prevent virus transmission are maximized. Not running such a simulation will very likely lead to anxiety among KPPS workers and could result in potential health protocol violations during actual execution.
Third, KPPS workers will have an increased workload in running the elections during the Covid-19 health emergency. These include all aspects of holding the polls, from setting up the TPS and ensuring that voters comply with the health protocols, which will require high levels of concentration and discipline, as well as using the Sirekap electronic vote counting system, a new system that will therefore require precision in its implementation.
Thus, the additional service to help Covid-19 patients exercise their voting rights poses a great risk, even though the inclusiveness this service represents is a good thing and the service was offered in other countries that have held elections during the pandemic, such as Germany, South Korea, the United States and India.
However, the difference is in the voting process in individual countries. Aside from direct ballots with the help of health officers, some countries also implemented special schemes like mail-in ballots and early voting to avoid crowds as well as to prevent overloading poll workers on election day.
The KPU should thus reconsider its voting mechanism for Covid-19 patients to ensure that the practice does not endanger the health and safety of KPPS workers. The principle of fair elections must also be interpreted as fair treatment of all election workers so they feel safe from potential exposure to Covid-19 and can work calmly without fear of exposure to Covid-19.
Moreover, the KPPS workers managing the polling stations have an added, heavy technical burden to ensure that the polls run in full compliance with the 3M health protocols. Also from the technical standpoint, it must be admitted that there has been a lack of optimal preparedness regarding polling simulations and procedures related to health and safety while serving Covid-19 patients so they may exercise their voting rights.
Do not risk creating the collective memory that our elections, as a “celebration of democracy”, are dangerous and could threaten human lives, particularly because democracy is a value system that improves human dignity and should not be a threat to human life.
Titi Anggraini, Perludem Advisor; Doctoral Student, UI Faculty of Law