Greater seriousness is needed because the future members of the KPU and Bawaslu will have duties that are not light, namely to hold the legislative and regional elections simultaneously in 2024.
By
kompas editor
·3 minutes read
The fate of the 2024 simultaneous legislative and regional head elections will be determined by 11 members on the selection team responsible for choosing the officials of the General Elections Commission (KPU) as well as the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu).
An interesting incident took place on Tuesday (28/12/2021), when the selection team was interviewing candidates for the KPU and Bawaslu for the 2022-2027 period. The head of the selection team, Juri Ardiantoro, reprimanded one of its members, Bahtiar. The reason was that Bahtiar, who is also the politics and general administration director general at the Home Ministry praised one candidate, August Mellaz, during the interview (Kompas, 29/12/2021).
The interviews were broadcast on YouTube so the public could follow the process. This transparency deserves appreciation. There is hope that this transparency will encourage the selection team to work more seriously in picking the best candidates for the KPU and Bawaslu.
Greater seriousness is needed because the future members of the KPU and Bawaslu will have duties that are not light, namely to hold the legislative and regional elections simultaneously in 2024.
The 2019 general elections have taught how complicated and exhausting it is to hold a simultaneous election in a single day. There were five elections that used three different electoral systems. The system of open list proportional representation was used to elect members of the House of Representatives (DPR), provincial legislative councils (DPRD I), and the regional and municipal legislative councils (DPRD II).
KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI
Candidates for members of the General Election Commission (KPU) and the General Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) take a basic psychological test at the Jakarta International Expo (JIEXPO), Jakarta, Thursday (25/11/2021).
The multi-member district system was used to elect members of the Regional Representative Council (DPD). Meanwhile, the presidential election required the winning pair to gain a minimum 50 percent of all votes plus 1, with a minimum 20 percent of the vote in each province, and was held in more than half of the country’s 34 provinces. The heavy duties of the 2019 elections caused 5,175 election officials to become sick and led to the deaths of 894 election officials, mostly due to exhaustion.
The new KPU and Bawaslu members will not only be tasked with ensuring that the complicated and exhausting elections run smoothly, honestly and fairly. They must also hold the simultaneous regional elections in all regions in the country. We have never held the local elections on the same day in all regions before.
In order to respond to this challenge, the KPU and Bawaslu members are not only required to understand the electoral process, but must also possess leadership, independence, innovation, and the ability to work in a team, as well as be healthy.
Personal integrity is also very much needed because the tough duties of holding the 2024 general and regional elections also give the election organizers great power. Without strong integrity, that power is vulnerable to abuse. The prosecution of former election organizers for corruption and other charges is proof of this.
Kompas/Hendra A Setyawan
Chairman of the Selection Team (timsel) Members of the General Election Commission and Election Supervisory Body for the period 2022-2027 Juri Ardiantoro (second from right) accompanied by Deputy Chairman of South Timor Chandra Hamzah (second from left), secretary of South Timor Bahtiar (right) and member of South Team I Dewa Gede Palguna announced the prospective registrants who passed the administrative selection at the Ministry of Home Affairs Office, Jakarta, Wednesday (17/11/2021).
There is hope that the names of the 14 KPU candidates and 10 Bawaslu candidates that the selection team will submit to the President, who will then forward them to the DPR, will be the best people for the job. Therefore, there will be no need to doubt any candidate who passes the DPR’s fit and proper test.
In order to produce such a result, expectations are high for the selection team’s seriousness. Juri's reprimand may be part of the team’s awareness that their responsibility is not light.
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