There Is A Way If The Government Wants The Pilkada To Succeed: Handle Pandemics First

JAKARTA - Member of the Board of Trustees for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), Titi Anggraini, said that the success of other countries in holding elections in the midst of a pandemic is because the number of COVID-19 transmission in that country can be controlled.

Titi gave an example, for example in South Korea. He said, people in the country can believe that the holding of elections can be successful and there is no need to worry because the government has handled COVID-19 well.

"Abroad, the level of confidence in organizing the Pilkada is directly proportional to the level of public confidence in the country's capacity to control COVID-19," he said, during a virtual discussion on Polemic entitled "Pilkada in the Middle of a Pandemic", Saturday, September 26.

Meanwhile in Indonesia, said Titi, this is not directly proportional to the public's confidence in handling COVID-19. In fact, the number of viris transmission continues to rise. Because of that, he considered, Indonesia was not ready to hold this five-year regional head celebration. So that it seems very forced.

"Today, the positive number of COBID-19 continues to rise, even around 4,000. Public perception about the country's capacity regarding the ability to control COVID-19 also contributes to their confidence," he said.

Titi said, if you want the Pilkada to run with quality, the answer is simply to handle COVID-19 in the country properly. So that people can believe and are not afraid to use their voting rights at the democratic party.

"So if the Pilkada wants to be successful. Success is also in controlling COVID-19," he said.

The movement of community groups that wanted the Simultaneous Election of December 9 this year to be postponed, emerged. They think that the election to the area will give rise to a new cluster of COVID-19 in the country.

However, based on a joint agreement with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the DPR, the General Election Commission (KPU) and the Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu), the Government has made a decision to continue implementing the 2020 Pilkada.

There are many reasons why this democratic party should be held during the COVID-19 Pandemic. One of them is the certainty of leadership in the next year which is considered critical.