Certainty of Election Schedule Ends Speculation

It was agreed that voting day for the 2024 general election would be 14 February 2024. Preparations will begin in June this year, or about five months from now.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The long debate over voting date for the 2024 general election ended after election, the government and the House of Representatives (DPR) agreed on 14 February 2024.

Certainty over the voting schedule puts an end to speculations about the postponement of the election and the extension of the presidential term. It also allows election organizers to immediately complete all preparations because the election stages will begin in June 2022, or in about five months.

The agreement on the voting date was decided in a working meeting between the House Commission II, the Home Ministry and a number of election organizers at the House Commission II in Jakarta on Monday (24/1/2022). This working meeting also agreed on the date for the 2024 simultaneous regional head elections, which is on 27 November 2024.

Now, the General Elections Commission [KPU] needs to start preparations and so do the political parties

A number of political party leaders welcome the agreement. The deputy chairperson of the National Awakening Party (PKB), Jazilul Fawaid, said the agreement had ended speculation that had circulated among the public, particularly the issue of postponing the elections and extending the presidential term.

"Now, the General Elections Commission [KPU] needs to start preparations and so do the political parties," he said.

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The deputy chairperson of the Prosperous Justice Party's Syura Council, Hidayat Nur Wahid, also asked that the circulating issues be put to rest.

"The [voting day of] the 2024 elections has been agreed on, that is in February 2024. That means, speculation about the extension of the presidential term of office to 2027 or to extend the presidential term to three office terms has been closed," he said.

KOMPAS/IQBAL BASYARI

Screenshot of the DPR Commission II working meeting with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the General Elections Commission, the General Elections Supervisory Agency, and the Honorary Council for General Elections Organizing to discuss the design and concept of organizing the 2024 General Election and Regional Head Election at the Senayan Parliament Complex, Jakarta, Monday (6/9/ 2021).

Ramadan 2024

The date, according to the chairman of the General Election Commission, Ilham Saputra, was the KPU's initial proposal. This proposal has been conveyed in a number of meetings with the government and the House in addition to two other options, namely 21 February 2024 and 6 March 2024.

"Our consideration is that it seems the right time is 14 February 2024. The recapitulation of the vote can be done before Ramadan 2024 or at the end of Ramadan," he said.

Home Minister Tito Karnavian also approved the proposal because it would allow sufficient time between the organization of the 2024 general election and the 2024 regional head election. The nine-month span, between February and November, was also seen as sufficient if the 2024 presidential election had to be held in two rounds.

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Nevertheless, the government wants the implementation of elections to be efficient because Indonesia still has to overcome the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Tito suggested that the campaign period be shortened. From the KPU draft for a 120-day campaign period, the government proposes a maximum of 90 days.

"We think it [90 days] is enough, so the public will not be divided for too long, and with information technology, media or social media, we think the time is enough, and it could even be shorter than that," he said.

The proposal to shorten the campaign period was supported by a number of House factions. However, the deputy chairman of the House Commission II of the PKB faction, Luqman Hakim, pointed out that efficiency should not be used as an excuse for the government not to meet the budget needed by election organizers.

Straight to work

With the voting schedule, a KPU member for the 2012-2017 period, Hadar Nafis Gumay, asked the KPU to immediately draw up a more detailed schedule, stages, sub-stages and programs. Election organizers are also asked to prepare other measures that can improve the quality of the elections.

This preparation does not need to wait until the KPU and Election Supervision Body (Bawaslu) members are elected for the 2022-2027 period because there is not much time before the stages start.

In the draft of 2024 election stage guideline outlined by the KPU, the election stages begin in mid-June 2022, one of which is introducing technicalities of the election or the technical guidance stage. Then, it will continue in early August 2022 with the registration of the political parties. This means that there are only five months left before the election stage begins.

This article was translated by Kurniawan Siswo.