Yogyakarta, April 23rd 2020 – Local Leaders Election 2020 that have been postponed due to COVID-19 outbreak was discussed in depth in the discussion series titled ‘Should We Beware of Malpractice in the Postponement of the Local Leaders Election in 2020?’ that held by the Master Program students of Department of Politics and Government with concentration of Election Governance. This discussion was moderated by Abdul Gaffar Karim, the Coordinator of Indonesian Electoral Governance Consortium and also the lecturer of Department of Politics and Government FISIPOL UGM.
This discussion was cooperated with Bawaslu RI (Election Supervisory Agency of Republic of Indonesia) and KPU RI (General Elections Commission of Republic of Indonesia). It was opened by Erwan Agus Purwanto as the Dean of FISIPOL UGM. “The COVID-19 outbreak raises a question of whether delaying the local leaders elections is realistic, because the energy is being deployed to cope with this virus. But I agree, do not let the efforts to cope with the plague become an excuse to not to keep the democratic practices going well. Do not let this pandemic be used as the reason for electoral malpractice,” Erwan said in his opening speech.
The first speaker, Arief Budiman as the Head of General Elections Commission of Republic of Indonesia, spelled out the two malpractice tendencies, they were: intended and unintended. “The KPU will try to choose the options that provided by the Constitutional Court in revising the laws and regulations. The KPU was not involved, therefore many articles need to be adjusted, from the technical issue to the substances,” Arief said.
One of the unintended malpractices were seen in selecting the electoral districts (Daerah Pemilihan/Dapil), “The selection of electoral districts (Dapil) used to be done by the House of People’s Representatives (DPR) only. But yesterday the selection of election wards also has been done by the Provincial Regional House of People’s Representatives (DPRD Provinsi). But in the practice, there were many electoral districts making that have not use the principal of electoral districts selection yet, whether this is intended or not,” Arief said.
“Actually, the KPU has tried to enter the empty spaces, but in some cases KPU often lost, therefore the implementation is not as we expected. There are some empty spaces that KPU tries to regulate, because basically KPU is given the authority, but this is somewhat complicated in the implementation, including the ruling of Constitutional Court. We must anticipate the revision of laws that more transparent and involves many parties,” Arief said.
“Electoral supervision during pandemic is needed. There were many suggestions, from digital campaign, e-voting, and many more suggestions are being learned by the KPU, from the implementation, application, and consequences,” Arief said.
The next was Abhan as the Head of Elections of Supervisory Agency of Republic of Indonesia, he spelled out the data of election 2019 violations. “In the criminal proceedings, not all of the violations can be proceed in the court, there are some violations that handled by central and regional Bawaslu. Most of the violations happen in the candidacy period, support terms, campaign funds, requirements for prospective candidates for corruption and drug convicts, and electoral dispute,” Abhan said.
Abhan said that laws and regulations of the postponement of regional head elections in 2020 could come out in April. But the biggest alleged malpractice if the regional head election was held in December 2020 is in the matter of voting lists. Other than that, there is a potential abuse of power for incumbents in the potential areas when the pandemic occurs, it would be difficult to distinguish between humanitarian activities or campaigns that happen to be held by the incumbents.
“There were many reports from the regions that the distribution of groceries did not use the logo of local government, instead they used the picture of the regent or vice regent, the mayor or vice mayor that got the recommendation from their political parties,” Abhan said.
“The potency of vote buying and money politics. In this pandemic condition that worsened the economic conditions, it allows the vote buying to happen. Then the campaign and logistical issues, could it be done on time? Because it will involve many parties, like the printing company, availability of supply, and also the distribution that must be on time,” Abhan said.
Next, Arief explained about budget matters that are important. “If it is delayed until 2021, it means there must be an addendum so the budget that has been prepared in the regional head elections 2020 is still allowed to be used in 2021. Even though the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Finance have standard procedures for the 2021 budget. The KPU principle is, the regional head elections must be done,” Arief said.
In the end, Arief emphasized the importance of preventing malpractice in the regional head elections. “Our big task is to do political education about malpractice, the KPU always tries to make the election and regional head election produce political progress in order to strengthen regulations, resources, and procedures.”