No Reason for Postponing

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Chairman of the General Elections Commission (KPU) Hasyim Asy'ari attends a Working Meeting / Hearing Meeting with the Minister of Home Affairs, the Election Supervisory Body, and the Honorary Council for General Elections with Commission II of the DPR at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Wednesday (13/4) /2022).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Preparations are underway for the 2024 General Election (Pemilu). The newly installed members of the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) are immediately starting discussions the draft technical rules and election budget with the government and the House of Representatives (DPR).

There is no longer any reason to postpone the elections, which are to be held on 14 Feb. 2024. President Joko Widodo has expressed his commitment to holding elections as scheduled.

"Now there is no reason to postpone the 2024 General Election. All parties are committed, the elections will be held according to schedule. The 2022-2027 members of the KPU and Bawaslu have been sworn in and discussions on the KPU regulations have started," executive director Aditya Perdana from the University of Indonesia’s Center for Political Studies said on Wednesday (13/4/2022).

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The day after their inauguration, the new KPU and Bawaslu members immediately met with the DPR and the government. The meeting, which was attended by Home Minister Tito Karnavian, was held to discuss the Draft KPU Regulation (PKPU) on the Stages, Programs and Schedule of the 2024 Elections.

In his presentation, Tito emphasized that the government would follow the conclusions of the last working meeting with the DPR, KPU, and Bawaslu to hold the general election on 14 Feb. 2024 and the regional head elections (Pilkada) on 27 Nov. 2024.

The government has submitted its suggestions on the election stages, programs, and schedule. First, the election stages should be planned in detail so the elections could be carried out on time.

"Second, [the elections] must be safe for the people. We have learned from the 2019 elections. At that time, with a campaign period of almost seven months, we saw the rampant emergence of identity politics and the politicization of tribal affiliations, religion, race and ethnicity (SARA)," he said.

MARINA EKATARI

The General Elections Commission (KPU), Tuesday (22/3/2022), held a voting simulation for the 2024 General Election. There are two to three simplified ballot models by the KPU which will later be used in the 2024 election..

Besides that, the five-yearly celebration of democracy must be safe for election organizers, participants, and officials. It was also equally important to prepare an election budget that was effective and efficient.

KPU chairman Hasyim Asy'ari said several things must be taken into account in order to carry out the election stages effectively and efficiently.

The budgetary burden could be reduced if a certain number of stages were completed on time.

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On this consideration, the meeting decided it was necessary to deepen the draft PKPU on the election stages, programs and schedule. DPR Commission II chairman Ahmad Doli Kurnia Tandjung said it was necessary to hold consignment meetings to explore each technical detail in the draft PKPU.

The times and schedules of the consignment meetings to explore the technical details of the draft PKPU were to be determined. Doli assured that the DPR was committed to quickly ratifying the draft PKPU as the legal basis for organizing the 2024 General Election.

Quickly issue PKPU

Separately, executive director Khoirunnisa Nur Agustyati of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) pointed out that ratifying the draft PKPU was not tied to the DPR's schedule. The PKPU could be issued whenever the KPU felt it was ready after consulting with the DPR. "The authority to determine the PKPU is with the KPU, while [consulting the DPR] is required. Therefore, even though the DPR is in recess, there are no obstacles for the KPU to [finish] the PKPU," she said.

Aditya added that, over the next two months, election organizers must focus on those regulations that still contained many shortcomings. All parties also needed to continue to monitor progress so that the Draft PKPU on the Programs, Schedule, and Stages of the 2024 Elections could be ratified as quickly as possible.

Therefore, even though the DPR is in recess, there are no obstacles for the KPU to [finish] the PKPU.

It was the same with the election budget. A launch event marking the start of the election stages in June was necessary to show that the election period had really started.

However, vigilance must not slacken over the possible resurfacing of discourse on postponing the elections. The issue still had the potential to reappear, given the very dynamic political situation. (NIA)

This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo.