Results of Political Parties’ Factual Verification Allegedly Manipulated

The Kompas team received documents of the first phase of factual verification of political parties (BA) in a number of regencies, cities, provinces and nationally. There are a number of different data in that file.

YOSEPHA DEBRINA RATIH PUSPARISA

Depok General Election Commission Chairperson Nana Shobarna wrote a Statement of Not Being a Party Member for residents of Sawangan District, Depok, Thursday (27/10/2022). He found a number of residents whose names were listed as members of political parties..

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Civil society organizations have disclosed their findings on allegations of data manipulation of the results of the factual verification of political parties participating in the 2024 general elections in South Sulawesi. Similar findings were found in other regions as well. This aligns with the information and documents on the first phase of the factual verification the Kompas team received from election organizers across several provinces, regencies and cities.

Civil society organizations disclosed their findings of alleged manipulation of the factual verification results at a press conference on Sunday (11/12/2022), a few days before the announcement of which political parties will be participating in the 2024 general elections Dec. 14. They set up a post to receive reports regarding the alleged violations of the factual verification process. The identities of those who made a report will be protected.

This group of civil society organizations include the Association for Elections and Democracy, the Indonesia Corruption Watch, Netgrit, Center for Law and Policy Studies, Constitutional and Administrative Law Society, FIORNOP, Pusako Andalas University, Themis Indonesia and AMAR Law Firm.

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South Sulawesi Non-Government Information and Communication Forum (FIK-Ornop) coordinator Samsang Syamsir said his party discovered discrepancies in the data recapitulation of the factual verification results at the regency, city and provincial levels in South Sulawesi. According to data at the regency and city General Elections Commission (KPU) plenary meeting, several political parties did not meet the requirements. However, in a tiered recapitulation at the provincial level, the data had been changed to say the requirements were met.

He also received information concerning allegations of intimidation of regency and city administrators to alter the results of the factual verification. Regency and city KPU members were also allegedly threatened with having their financial reports audited so they would align with the views of the provincial KPU. In fact, some were even threatened by saying the request to alter the data had come from law enforcement.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO (RON)

One of the screen displays when KPU officers verify the administrative requirements of the documents required for political parties for candidates for the 2024 Election at the Borobudur Hotel, Jakarta, Sunday (7/8/2022).

Andalas University constitutional law lecturer Feri Amsari said that civil society organizations in Jakarta also found evidence of manipulation of recapitulation data in several regions. The patterns were similar to what was found in South Sulawesi, which he suspects could also be the case for other regions.

“We will gradually release the data once the reports from various parties are complete so that the public can see the pattern of manipulation for themselves,” he said.

Regarding the press statements made by civil society organizations, KPU member Idham Holik said the commission monitored the recapitulation and plenary meetings at the South Sulawesi KPU. Thus far, he deemed the process went smoothly and normally. He denied allegations that the commission instructed the data to be manipulated in order to show that political parties who did not meet the requirements, did.

He emphasized that 34 provinces conducted open plenary meetings on improving the results of the factual verification. As a result, several political parties have not met the requirements, while others have. Most political parties failed to meet the factual verification requirements due to political party membership.

Different documents

The Kompas team received documents of the first phase of factual verification of political parties (BA) in a number of regencies, cities, provinces and nationally. Following the first phase of the factual verification, there was a period of maintenance from Nov. 10-23, which was then followed by another factual verification process.

During the first phase, political parties that did not yet meet all the requirements were declared ineligible. However, if the requirements were still not met during the maintenance period, they were then declared as not having met the requirements.

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In a document received by a new political party in a province, which was also obtained by Kompas, there were two official reports with the same dates but contained different contents. In the first document, it stated that the political party was ineligible as it had yet to meet the membership requirement for more than 50 percent of regencies and cities.

The second document stated that the political party did meet the membership requirement for all regencies and cities. However, not all KPU members signed this second document. This document is also the same as the national recapitulation recorded on Nov. 8. Several documents from other regions obtained by Kompas also showed similar patterns.

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

Chairman of the General Election Commission (KPU) Hasyim Asy'ari in socializing KPU Regulation Number 4 of 2022 concerning Registration, Verification, and Determination of Political Parties Participating in the General Election for Members of the People's Representative Council (DPR) and Regional DPR at the KPU Office, Jakarta, Monday (25 /7/2022).

Several provincial, regency and city KPU members, separately, claimed that changes were made at the end of November and early December in accordance with instructions from several national KPU members. “I said that I was instructed to [alter the results], which was against the rules. I did not want to,” said a member of the provincial KPU.

Allegedly, instructions to alter the data took place through two channels at once. KPU members in the regions were asked to manipulate the results of the factual verification, which would procedurally become the basis for altering the data in the Political Party Information System (Sipol). Meanwhile, the secretariat staff could change the data logged in Sipol.

Data changes in Sipil were made on the evening of Nov. 7. At the time, the provincial, regency and city KPU had finished the factual verification and uploaded the data to Sipol. The data, however, was altered and did not match the results of the verification. Changes made to Sipol data cannot be accessed by the public. Even the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) has limited access to the database.

A member of the district KPU admitted that he was concerned that altering the results of the verification would undermine the integrity of the election and the KPU as an institution. “All trust in the process and results will be harmed if the verification results can be altered. My colleagues were confused about how to make such changes. I said it wasn’t a matter of how, but the fact that our conscience refused,” he said.

All trust in the process and results will be harmed if the verification results can be altered.

Former KPU chairman Ramlan Surbakti said he also received numerous reports from election organizers and activists regarding allegations of data manipulation of the verification process results by a political party. The actions of the individuals at the KPU suspected of facilitating and making these changes, he said, undermined the principle of honest and fair elections.

When asked about the allegations of data manipulation, KPU chairman Hasyim Asy’ari replied in writing and said that the KPU adhered to several principles when conducting the political party verification, namely being open and accountable. This, he said, was reflected by the hierarchical submission of the factual verification report from the regency and city KPU to the national KPU through Sipol. The recapitulation of the verification results were then distributed to political parties and Bawaslu.

Bawaslu chairman Rahmat Bagja said the agency should have received a copy of the recapitulation document at each level of the factual verification. However, they were only able to get their hands on the recapitulation document at the national level. (KOMPAS TEAM)

This article was translated by Kesya Adhalia.