Former Executive Director Of Perludem Considers That The Permanent KPU/Bawaslu In The Regions Are Irrelevant

JAKARTA – The permanent existence of KPU and Bawaslu in regencies/cities was deemed by the former Executive Director of Perludem, Titi Anggraini, to be irrelevant. Especially if you maintain the simultaneous general election (election) and regional head election (pilkada) in the future.

It would be better, according to Titi Anggraini to Antara in Semarang, Sunday morning, January 30, the institution is not permanent (ad hoc) with the term of office of KPU and Bawaslu membership no longer 5 years as it is now.

Titi said that when she mentioned the institutional design of the future election organizers, considering that the term of office of KPU/Bawaslu members in 110 regencies and cities will end from January to March 2024.

"This is a crucial period for the implementation of voting, counting and recapitulation of the 2024 general election, which is scheduled for February 14," said Titi, who is also a member of the Advisory Council of Needdem.

He stated that the institutional design of the current election administration is not in line with the design of the simultaneous general election and regional head elections which are scheduled to be held in the same year.

One of the reasons for the permanentization of regional election administrators, said Titi, was the consideration that there was an election and regional head election agenda which in 5 years would be held at a different time. Thus, the KPU/Bawaslu in the regions will always actively work to organize electoral activities during their term of office.

Therefore, he sees the need for legislators to synchronize these two things, namely how to make the institutional design of the election organizers compatible with the design of the simultaneous election.

If the simultaneous model is in the form of simultaneous national elections and local simultaneous elections, such as those proposed by Needdem, according to him, a permanent regional election organizer with a term of office of 5 years as currently is appropriate.

Referring to the term of office of KPU/Bawaslu membership which will end close to the voting day of the 2024 General Election, Titi sees the need to extend the term of office of regional KPU/Bawaslu membership until the 2024 Pilkada is complete. This is an affirmative step towards simultaneous selection.

After the 2024 Pilkada, according to Titi, there needs to be a simultaneous selection of the regional KPU/Bawaslu in 2027 for the term of office that will end after all stages of the 2029 Pilkada end.

"Therefore, to ensure that the KPU/Bawaslu members end their tenure at the same time, like it or not, there must be a Government Regulation in Lieu of an Election Law (Perppu) or a limited revision," said Titi, who was once the Executive Director of Needdem.

When it comes to mentioning that there is still an opportunity for the Government and DPR RI to revise Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections, according to Titi, seeing the signs that lawmakers are reluctant to make limited changes.

He suspects that lawmakers are worried about making limited revisions to the Election Law because there is an opportunity to touch on crucial articles related to electoral system variables.

"Thus, the Election Perppu is the most likely," said Titi, who was elected as the Democracy Ambassador representing Indonesia at the International Institute for Electoral Assistance (International IDEA).