2024 Election Important Opportunity to Maintain Integration

The General Elections Commission (KPU) believes that the 2024 General Election can be a means of national integration. This is considered possible because of the design of the election simultaneously.

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

The launch of the 2024 election stages at the General Elections Commission, Tuesday (24/6/2022). The event was attended by DPR Speaker Puan Maharani (center), Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian (fourth from right), the chairman and commissioner of the General Elections Commission as well as representatives of political parties participating in the election..

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The timeline for the 2024 election was announced on Tuesday (6/14/2022), revealing that the political race will reach its peak on 14 Feb. 2024, which is polling day. However, despite the fierce competition among political parties, the 2024 election should serve as a democratic instrument to maintain national unity.

"I appeal to all elements of the nation to restore the nature and identity of the election as a democratic instrument that is oriented toward national unity, not the other way around. The election is an arena of competition, not battles among the people,” the speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR), Puan Maharani, said during the launch of the 2024 election stages at the General Elections Commission (KPU) building on Tuesday evening.

In accordance with Law No. 7/2017 on elections, the election process starts 20 months before polling day. With the polling day set for 14 Feb. 2024, the election stage will begin on June 14, 2022.

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The launch of the 2024 election process was also attended, among others, by the deputy chairman of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), Nono Sampono, Home Minister Tito Karnavian, the chairman of the House Commission II, Ahmad Doli Kurnia Tanjung, Law and Human Rights Deputy Minister Eddy OS Hiariaj, as well as the leaders of a number of political parties.

In her remarks, Puan pointed out that in 1955, Indonesia’s first president, Soekarno, said elections should not become a battleground for political parties to achieve their goals because it could divide the nation. However, the public has already begun to feel that the political atmosphere ahead of the 2024 election has spiraled to what bung Karno had warned against. The public debates about the dynamics of the 2024 elections are often dominated by arguments that can lead to unhealthy polarization among the people.

In fact, continued Puan, there were no problems that could not be resolved through a deliberation based on the spirit of Indonesian unity.

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Chairman of the General Elections Commission Hasyim Asyari gives a speech at the launch of the 2024 election stages at the General Elections Commission, Tuesday (24/6/2022).

Integration

KPU chairman Hasyim Asy'ari emphasized that based on its design, the 2024 election should become a place for national integration. Polling day for the presidential and legislative elections will be held on 14 Feb. 2024. The regional head election will be held simultaneously in November 2024. With the holding of the simultaneous election, it is expected that political polarization will get worse.

After the 2024 race, political parties will again prepare their candidates for regional heads. As a consequence, political parties should refrain from prolonged conflicts because they have to find a common ground to build a coalition to nominate candidates for regional heads.

"Such a design will encourage competition that will lead to integration," said Hasyim.

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A professor of Political Science at the University of Indonesia, Valina Singka Subekti, urged election organizers to carry out the election stages professionally and with integrity, and to maintain independence. Valina added that the 2024 election was a critical stage for the sustainability of Indonesia's democracy and used for the regeneration of leadership, which is expected to consolidate democracy in a better direction.

“All parties, whether election organizers, contestants or voters, are expected to have the same spirit and vision regarding the future of Indonesian democracy. This is a big bet for the sustainability of democracy in Indonesia," said Valina.

Full support

Home Minister Tito Karnavian said the government fully supported the implementation of the 2024 election. In various forums, he said, the President had ordered the Indonesian Military and the National Police, as well as regional governments, to support the KPU in logistics procurement and even funding. The KPU was also urged by the President to prepare for the election in detail and neatly.

Tito also hoped that Indonesia could be a world reference in organizing elections. Therefore, the government should encourage all stakeholders to provide political education so that voters understand their rights. He also hoped that the KPU will prepare a quality campaign model with the use of technology in order to reduce polarization This is also needed to reduce friction in the field and money politics.

Meanwhile, during a ceremony for the preparation for the supervision of the simultaneous elections at the Bawaslu building in Jakarta on Tuesday, the chairman of the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), Rahmat Bagja, said that all stages of the election must be watched closely, including activities related to money politics, the politicization and other important issues.

This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi.